A pocket full of stars
by Kima00
Summary: Three marines get killed and only a little girl is left with her stepfather's inheritance. Thanks to Gaben who will work as a Beta-reader on this story. WARNING: May contain spanking of a minor.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of it characters.

**Hope you enjoy the story.**

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_**Chapter 1 **_

_**A Pocket full of Stars**_

_**Savoy Suites Hotel Washington DC Room 24**_

Adan paced up and down in his hotel room. His little stepdaughter Nadia was happily playing with her Newfoundland pup Goliath. With a smile, he remembered her talking him into buying the pup for her. She had pleaded for a whole week and never relented until he softened and bought Goliath. He watched her as she carefully tried to put a bow on Goliath's head while the pup tried to lick her hands. Her giggles filled the air and distracted him from his worries for some seconds, but soon they returned.

_Would they find him here? What if Jim betrayed him to… No! Jim was his friend he would never do that! But the dealer, he didn't trust him. And what was with Abdulla? No, he fought for the freedom of his people. He would never betray him, not for money, not for weapons, for nothing. He was the one who had helped him coming to America, he would never betray him. But what had happened to Martin then? A week ago they had found his body in a river. He had been shot._

He checked his watch. 5pm. Jim and Abdulla would come in an hour. They had promised it.

"Daddy?" He heard Nadia call. He looked at her. He could never forgive himself if something happened to her, but his people were starving and dying, and he promised to help them.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"I gotta go." She raised both arms in his direction. He picked her up and went with her to the bathroom. Goliath jumped at one of his shoes and started to chew at it. He quickly helped his little girl and rearranged her clothes afterwards. Then he snatched his shoe from the pup and placed them high upon a cupboard.

Nadia continued playing with Goliath, while he sat down on the bed and continued thinking.

_When did it start going wrong? They had kept everything secret. No one had seen them. But why had someone shot Martin then?_

Adan continued to let his mind wander until it was time. At 5 to 6 he went over to Nadia and kneeled down next to her, "Nadia." He put two fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him. "I want you to hide in the wardrobe and stay quiet. If you manage to stay quiet while the other men are here, I'll buy you as much ice-cream as you want. Okay?"

The little girl nodded avidly.

"Can I have Goliath with me?" She asked.

"Hm…Yes you can, but remember be as quiet as a mouse sweetheart."

"Yes, daddy." She ran over to the wardrobe, excited at the prospect of this new game. He opened the door and ushered her inside. The crosswise design on the lower portion of the closet doors left gaps between the planks. To be sure that no one would see her, Adan put a blanket around Nadia and the pup. The little one giggled and Adan couldn't resist kissing her nose before closing the door, then whispered, "Remember, be quiet or you won't get any ice-cream."

Again she nodded. Adan fastened a camera under the only desk in the room, just in case something happened.

"Don't think about it." He mumbled to himself.

Nadia dropped the blanket from her head and poked her small face against one of the doors openings, "Daddy? Are you…" She seemed to look for the right word. "WORRIED!" She exclaimed happily as she had remembered it.

Adan jumped, "No, Nadia. Daddy isn't worried. It's just a game. But could you take care of this for daddy? It's very precious for me." He poked a small cotton bag, twice as big as his hand through the cavity, "Now poke your head back in there and cover up, stay as quiet as you can."

"Can I look inside?" She asked curiously and opened the bag, before he answered. "Ooooh! Twinkling stones! Are they stars daddy? Can I play with em daddy?" She took one out.

"No, Nadia, not yet. First you have to be very quiet!" he said sternly.

She nodded with a pout and quivering lip.

"Good girl. Thank you Sweetheart." He bent down and tapped her nose again, trying to reassure her that he wasn't angry. Nadia smiled and adjusted the blanket over her head. Adan stood up, snapping his attention to a sudden knock at the door.

"Who's there?" He asked.

"I'm the one who will save many lives, but the cost of it is death." He heard the whispered answer. Adan let out a sigh of relief. That had been Jim's voice. He sounded tired, perhaps Martin's killer had found him and he had to flee.

"Wait a second. I'm coming." Adan went over to the bed table and opened the top drawer. He took out his gun and hid it inside his jacket. _Just in case_, he calmed himself down. He went to the door and opened it. The man standing in front of him wasn't Jim. It was a stranger pointing a gun at him. His left hand held a recorder.

"I'm sorry that you're friend had to cancel the meeting Adan. He had a… so called accident." The man said with a dry smile.

"Get inside!" He ordered.

Reluctantly Adan stepped back. The man quickly came into the room and closed the door behind him.

"Now we're gonna have a little talk, Adan Anderson."

"How did you find Jim and Martin?"

"That was quiet easy; USMC always have a staff list of all the marines. The hard part was to get the password out of your friend Jim. It took me some time, but finally he surrendered and told me."

"You tortured him?"

"If you want to call that, yes. But now, to business; Where's Abdulla?"

Adan shook his head, "I don't know. He never wanted to tell us where he hid, he was afraid of people like you." He replied.

"Now you're putting me in a very uncomfortable position, Mister Anderson." The man said with played politeness. "I really want to get this over with as quickly as possible. I think it's in your interest also." The man reached out for a chair and lowered himself in it, still aiming his gun.

"I won't tell you anything." Adan replied angrily. _If he just could draw his gun, he would perhaps be able to shoot this bastard._

"Fine, your choice." The man said and pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit Adan in the knee and he fell backwards on the bed. He gritted his teeth, trying not to yell out in pain. Nadia would come out and then the killer would murder her too. The thought of his little stepdaughter warmed his heart and he was able to control his mouth. The man came over to him and retrieved Adan's gun from his jacket.

"Now my friend, do you have anything you need to tell me?" He sneered, pressing on the open wound in his leg.

Adan gritted his teeth, not wanting to cry out, and then ground out, "Yes… Go to hell!"

Adan's anger gave him the adrenaline rush he needed and he lunged at the man, managing to grab the silencer of the gun that pointed at him. The killer hit him hard in the face, but he ignored the pain. Adan grabbed with the other hand inside of his boot and pulled out a knife. Again the thug kicked Adan's wounded knee. This time Adan wasn't able to stifle the moan that escaped his lips. He fell to the ground, but not before stabbing his assailant in the calf. If he hit the artery the man would die within minutes.

Before Adan could finish processing this thought, he felt a sharp pain in his back and all his forces left him. His grip around the knife flagged and breathing became extremely arduous for him. _Damn, I've been shot, _he realized. His view darkened more and more. He was the only one Nadia had. Her mother had died in a car accident shortly after he had married her. He had to stay alive, but all his efforts were useless.

_Nadia,_ he thought,_ I'm sorry for leaving you alone._ Then everything went black.

The killer looked down on the man. _He had left trails,_ he thought angrily. He grabbed the knife and pulled it out. Then he unbuckled his belt and bound it hard around his leg. Now he just had to put something over the wound. He went into the bathroom and found a first aid kit. He wrapped a bandage around his calf and went back to the lounge. Now, all he needed was a fresh pair of trousers. Spotting the wardrobe, he limped towards it and raised his hand clasping the doorknob. Then he heard a quiet buzzing, then a click. Turning his head quickly he spotted the flashing red light coming from under the desk. The killer went over to the desk and looked under it. With a sigh, he ripped the video camera away and dropped it on the floor, crushing it with his foot. _Why did they always think they could trick him?_ He thought shaking his head. He headed once again for the wardrobe.

Suddenly he heard a knock at the door.

"Mister Anderson? Is everything alright?" He heard a voice call.

He had to go now. He took out his gun and went to the door and flung it open. A footboy stood in front of him. The bullet hit the boy in the forehead, before he could begin his enquiry. He grabbed the dead body, before it fell to the ground and pulled it into the room. No one else was in the corridor. He walked casually to the lift and pressed the button.

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**TBC. That was the introduction. Hope you liked it and please review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – **_**Grab Your Gear**_

_**The Bull Pen**_

Gibbs marched into the bull pen and headed for his desk, "DiNozzo, any news on the dead marines, Jim Parker or Martin Brooks?"

"Nothing Boss. They were single, not wealthy and had no children. They both received badges of honor in the Iraq war and were well respected in their unit. None of their known associates appears to have any motive or reason to kill them."

Gibbs's phone rang.

Slamming the phone down, Gibbs rounded his desk, grabbed his gun from the draw and beckoned his team, "DiNozzo, David, grab your gear. We have another dead marine. This time, at the Savoy Hotel. "

"Coming boss." Tony replied. They followed behind to the elevated, entered and then filed in behind Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, their leader.

_**Savoy Suites Hotel Washington DC Room 24 inside the wardrobe**_

Nadia woke up with a loud yawn. Goliath whimpered and stretched himself.

"When is daddy coming?" She whispered to her little pup. She peeked through the gap on the lower panel door. At ground level she could see there were people inside and her daddy lying on the ground. He didn't move. The people looked at him and took photos of him. There was an old man wearing a hat kneeling next to him. _Were they playing too? They weren't very good at the game. They were making too much noise! _She thought.

A grey haired man came over and kneeled down next to her daddy and the old man with the hat.

"Time of death, Ducky?" said the grey haired man.

Doctor Mallard withdrew a large thermometer from the man's belly, "Some hours ago, I guess, at the same time as the footboy at the door."

"Same MO like Brooks." noted Gibbs.

"Indeed it appears so. Three dead marines in one week. Brooks and this one get shot in their knees and then killed afterwards. However, our man Parker was tortured for some reason." surmised Ducky.

Nadia realized what the other man had said. He had said her daddy was dead! She didn't understand what that exactly meant, but she knew she would never see him again. _It was the same thing with her mommy. Daddy had placed her on his lap and explained to her that mommy was gone and she would never return again, because she was dead._Tears welled up in her eyes and she tried to suppress her sobbing. It was useless. She hid herself under the blanket and hugged Goliath tightly. _Now he was the only one she had left._

"Did you hear that?" Gibbs looked up and concentrated. Ducky shook his head.

"What do you mean boss?" Tony asked. Then he heard it too. It was a very soft tone, but it sounded like a crying child.

"I heard it too." Tony tiptoed over to the wardrobe and carefully opened the door. He spotted a shaking heap of on the ground and kneeled down next to it. Slowly, not wanting to scare whatever or whoever it was, he pulled the blanket away, revealing a crying child hugging a puppy. "Man we've got a toilet paper commercial" he quipped.

The child in front of him did not think it was funny; her big blue eyes looked at him.

"Hey, little one. Are you okay?" He asked softly, touching her gently on the head. The young girl looked up, then let out an ear piercing scream.

"NOOOO, DON'T TOUCH! DON'T TOUCH!" She yelled, then grabbed his hand and sunk her teeth into it.

"Geeezzz," cursed Tony, and tried to drag his hand away, but instead only managed to pull the girl out of the wardrobe, still connected to his forearm.

Nadia soon realized she was free of the wardrobe. She released her jaws and made a scuttled dash for the door.

Gibbs who had watched the whole scene managed to grab the little fledgling by the back of her shirt as she tried to pass him. Nadia screamed, tried to bite, kick and hit the grey haired man, but he had a good grip around her waist and never let go. Gibbs carried the little girl outside, then closed the door shutting the grisly scene out behind him. He placed the frantic child on the ground, bent down to her level and held both her arms by her side.

"LEMME GO! LEMME GO! I WANT MY DADDY!" She yelled and tried wriggle her arms free. When it appeared he was not going to move them Nadia again tried to contort her body to bite him.

"Hey, No Biting." He demanded. Gibbs then tried his best to try to calm the child down. "Hey shhh now, we're not going to hurt you, settle down." All of a sudden, Gibbs yelped in pain as something else bit him on the calf. "Damn, what the…" he swore and reached down to find something furry attached to his leg. He lifted it up. It was a puppy.

"DINOZZO!" He bellowed.

Tony stumbled out of the room. "Boss?"

"Take this." ordered Gibbs and handed the confused agent the little dog. It sank his teeth immediately into Tony's tie and started to pull and maul it.

Gibbs turned his attention back to the little girl, who on seeing her puppy impounded by the big man she'd bitten in the closet, started to struggle even more. She kicked out at Gibbs bent knees. Gibbs reflexes avoided any contact, but the grinding pain felt in his knees as he swung them from side to side was wearing his patience down.

"I won't hurt you little girl, but settle down." She didn't listen and strengthened her attempts to break his grip. "NOW!" He ordered with firm voice. She stopped and he released his grip a bit. She used the opportunity and bit him hard on the forearm.

"Stop this!" He growled. She only bit him harder. "Enough!" with his free arm and hand, he landed a soft swat on the seat of her jeans.

Nadia yelped and immediately let go of his arm. She threw both hands back to her behind and tried to rub the sting away. Tears welled up in her eyes and she started to cry. Then she suddenly flung herself into Gibbs' arms crying heavily against his shoulder. He stood up supporting her behind with one arm and rubbing her back with the other hand. Meanwhile Tony hadn't managed to get a good grip of the pup yet who had now destroyed the lower half of his tie.

"Shhhh. I've got you. You're safe." Gibbs whispered into the little girl's ear and kissed her on the top of her head. The child couldn't have been any older than about four of five. She clung to Gibbs, her tears wetting his shirt.

"DiNozzo. I'm going back down to the hotel lobby. This is no place for a child."

The senior agent had finally gotten control over the dog and held it up by the nape of its neck and as far away from his tie as possible. "Boss? Can you take the pup with you, too?"

"Nope." He replied and headed down to the lobby of the hotel. Downstairs he sat down on a chair and placed the girl on his lap. She buried her face in his chest and continued crying her eyes out.

"Shhh. I've got you." He soothed.

Nadia's only reaction was clinging to Gibbs as if her life depended upon it. She cried until Ducky lead the gurneys to the van. Gibbs held her the whole time close to him and murmured comforting words into her ears all the while he rubbed her back.

Sniveling and hiccupping she rubbed her eyes with her fists and looked up at Gibbs who smiled back at her.

"Where's my daddy now?" She asked with a hoarse voice.

Gibbs sighed; he knew she would ask this question.

"He's gone in the van with Ducky. But he won't be coming back. He's gone to a place far away, little one. Hey, but what's your name?" He asked trying to distract her.

"I'm Nadia." She said and sniffled again.

"Nadia. That's a beautiful name. Did your…" He stopped the sentence. He had nearly said father. "My name is Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

"Ethro? That's a silly name."

"No, little one, Jethro with a J in the beginning."

"Still silly." She said and rubbed her eyes again.

"This pup upstairs, is it yours?" He continued asking as she started to lightened up a bit.

She nodded.

"How old is he?"

"Goliath… he's three months and I'm four years old, and that makes us nearly the same age in puppy years."

"Three months already! And what does he like?"

"He likes liking my face, but daddy said… daddy said…" She sniffled again and the tears welled up again.

"Shhhhh." Gibbs soothed gently picking the little girl up and rocking her from side to side. "It's alright little one. Hushhhhh." She started to sob.

Ziva and Tony entered the room. They booth looked around and spotted Gibbs sitting in a chair trying to comfort the little girl. Tony handed the pup to Ziva and went over to his boss. Ducky entered the lobby at the same time as Tony.

"Gibbs? Do you need some help, there?" asked Ducky.

"No thanks Ducky. I think we need to get her back to NCIS. I'll bring her with me.

"You'll need a booster seat Boss", advised Tony, "She's too young to travel in a car without one."

"Well find me one, DiNozzo!"

"Yes Boss, I'll try guest services." He said and headed for the reception.

"Ziva, you and McGee find out everything about this marine."

"Yes Gibbs, shall I leave the pup?"

Gibbs thought on it for a second, but shook his head. He didn't want to take the dog with him; he didn't want it biting him again. Nadia was not going to leave his side, and the dog would be best going back to NCIS as well.

"Take it to Abby. She will take care of it until we get back."

"NOOO! I WANT GOLIATH!" Nadia screamed and reached out with both hands after her pet.

"No, Nadia. Abby will have to do some tests to make sure he's healthy. You will see him soon again."

She looked up at him. Her bottom lip quivered. "P-promise?"

"Yes, I promise. Do you want to come with me to NCIS headquarters? Goliath will be there and you can meet will really like Abby."

"Okay. Can I bring daddy's stars with me too" She said, reaching inside her shirt. Gibbs thought she was going to pull out a soft toy. How wrong he was. Nadia pulled out a small cotton bag and opened it. Gibbs frowned. It was full of clear colorless crystals.

"Nadia. Can I take a look at these stones, please?"

"No, they're mine. Daddy gave to me they're stars!" She said and quickly closed the bag again.

"I promise, I just want a little look, I've never seen real stars before. I will give them straight back. I just want to look at one. You can even hold it for me when I look."

"Okay, but just a quick look." She stated sternly, frowning from under brown bangs.

Gibbs smiled at her stubborn expression. She took out one of the smallest stones and held it up to him.

"You can hold it yourself." She put it in his hands. "I give it to you. I've got much bigger ones." She said on the spur of the moment.

"Thank you Nadia. That's very generous of you." He took a closer look at the stone. It was absolutely clear and as big as the upper part of his thumb.

"How many of these stones do you have Nadia?" Gibbs asked her.

She shrugged. "I can count to twenty, but there were more stars."

"Oh, that's a lot." He turned around looking for Ducky. "Hey Ducky, take this, to Abby and get her to find out if it is what I think it is," said Gibbs.

"Oh, so you don't believe they are stars then, Jethro?

Nadia, frowned and interrupted Ducky's satirical comment, "They are stars; my daddy gave them to me. He gave me a whole pocket full of stars, see." She said holding up the bag.

"Oh, how very silly of me, little lady, so they are. Jethro you need to bring young…?"

"Naaadiiiaaa," articulated the little girl sitting on Gibbs lap.

"You need to bring Nadia to see me when you get back. She has probably had a very exciting and exhausting afternoon."

The cryptic comment didn't go unnoticed by Gibbs, but fortunately it went straight over Nadia's head. Ducky was concerned at what the child had witnessed. He felt confident that she would be safe with Gibbs and even safer back at headquarters. If the person, who killed these men, finds out that she was maybe a witness…..

"I know Ducky. That's why I'm taking her with me. I'll see you back there."

"Fine I'll contact Children's Services to send someone over."

Tony walked over to the reception. "Do you have any car seats for children?"

The receptionist nodded and went to a back room returning with a suitable booster seat that Gibbs could just place on the seat and wrap the installed seat belt around the girl. _Good, user friendly _he thought, _Gibbs probably had no idea about these things_.

Tony returned, "Here boss, easy to install, just sit in on the seat and secure the…."

"I know how to use a child's safety seat, DiNozzo."

"Oh, sorry Boss I just thought… Never mind." Changing the subject from the uncomfortable faux pa, that Tony had made, he quickly recalled, "Oh and by the way, Boss we found a crushed camera inside on the floor. The tape casing is broken but I think most of the film may be intact and there could also be some pictures on the memory card."

"Good get that to Abby as well."

Gibbs headed for his car and put Nadia in the back seat securely seat belted and on the booster seat.

"Where are we going?" She asked curiously.

"I told you, to the NCIS. Your pup Goliath will be there."

Gibbs lowered himself behind the steering wheel and started the car.

"How long will it take?"

"Twenty minutes." He replied and changed into the first gear and pulled out of the parking lot of the Savoy Suites Hotel, now a crime scene and the last place a little girl with a pocket full of stars had seen her father alive.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3 Tales and Leads**_

_**NCIS Headquarters DC Washington**_

Nadia looked around with wide eyes. This house was huge. Gibbs held her hand and led her trough the corridors.

Remembering her pup, she tugged on Gibbs hand requesting his attention, "Where's Goliath?" She asked. Nadia stopped abruptly.

Gibbs looked down at her. "He's with Abby. We will go down to see her, but first we need to go up to the bull pen."

"Bull pen?" Nadia assured herself that she had heard right.

"The place where I work." He explained and continued his way towards the lift. Nadia scuttled to catch up to him, looking around with big eyes.

"This is a big, big house." She said in awe. Gibbs pressed the button and waited for the lift. Nadia tried to release her hand out of his grip.

"Lemme go. I want to look in there." She pointed towards a door.

"It's just a lumber-room. You can look in there later, Nadia. First we have to go to see my boss."

"No, I want to see what's behind the door." She stomped her foot. With a silent ping the door of the lift slid open. Gibbs let out a sigh of relief.

"Come on now, Nadia." He picked her up and carried her into the lift.

"No, no, no, no! Wanna see!" She wriggled and squirmed in his grip.

It may have been a lifetime ago, but to Gibbs it was like yesterday. He remembered what a curious energetic four year old was like. He just didn't remember it being this exhausting. He smirked as an old diversional tactic came to mind, "Hey! You want to press the button?" He held her up in front of them.

"Yay!" She cheered, the other room immediately forgotten. Nadia excitedly pressed all the buttons at once; slamming both hands over the console panel like it was a piano she could bang on, before Gibbs could indicate which button she should press.

After several uncomfortable minutes of visiting each floor and having co- workers look Gibbs up and down along with his charge; now positioned securely on his hip, the elevator finally arrived at the bull pen. Gibbs sat Nadia on a chair between his desk and Ziva's.

"DiNozzo, get Nadia a snack from the vending machine."

"Sure Boss," Tony held out his hand for the money.

"What DiNozzo?"

"Oh nothing Boss."

Nadia had gotten restless again and started to play with her "stars", then turned to Tony, "Here you can have one of my stars," she said and deposited a stone the size of a nickel in the senior agent's hands. Tony's eyes went wide, but never got the chance to say anything before Gibbs quickly snatched it back and dropped it into the child's cotton bag.

"Just get a snack, DiNozzo."

Gibbs knelt down in front of Nadia, then spotting Vance descending the stairs he whispered to the child, "Put the stones away Nadia,"

"Okay, but they're stars." She whispered back. Gibbs gently helped her repositioned them inside her shirt.

Gibbs stood as Vance approached. The director looked down at the small child sitting in front of him, then to Gibbs, "What have we got?" asked Vance.

"Three dead marines and a lot of questions." retorted Gibbs.

"The Child?"

"A possible witness."

"Has Children's Services been contacted?"

"Not yet. Vance, I need to protect this child until we've solved this case. If they take her from here I can't guarantee her safety"

"**I…** can't guarantee her safety?" enquired Vance, emphasizing the I.

"**We** can't guarantee her safety, NCIS and my team."

"Okay, but I can't guarantee Children's Services won't get wind of her, so once they do we may not have the legal means to keep her here. You people better move fast. What have you found out so far?"

"I'll bring you up the report and we'll discuss it later." He said and threw a quick glance towards the girl, "There's not much yet, Ducky's still doing the autopsy , Abbs is working on prints and evidence, Ziva and Tim are doing background checks on our latest victim and the girl and Tony's….."

Tony returned handing Gibbs a can of Coke and a giant chocolate bar.

"Tony's gonna grow some brains…. DiNozzo, do have any idea how this much caffeine can do to an already active four year old? "

Tony shrugged.

Gibbs slapped him up the back of the head, "Think ten Times Abby after an evidence breakthrough! Get her a sandwich and say, a juice box or milk."

Nadia giggled, "Yes daddy said too much sugar is not good for me, plus I'm not allowed to have chocolate bars."

Vance rolled his eyes, "Out of the mouth of babes… Okay, but I want some results today and report everything you've found out, I mean everything Gibbs."

Gibbs waited for Vance to leave, "Right people find something!"

Nadia was starting to get anxious again. She tugged on Gibbs sleeve and demanded, "I want Goliath," then started to get off her chair. Gibbs quickly picked her up. Nadia wriggled and squirmed trying to get out of his grip.

"Settle down. I'll take you to him and you will meet Abby too."

"Who's Abby?" She asked curiously, stopping her squirming and looked up at him.

"Abby is the best forensic scientist in the world."

"Huh?" She was totally confused. "Forsic…?"

"She's a very good agent." Gibbs simplified it quickly, avoiding the intricate and detailed job description of one Abigail Sciuto to a four year old.

Gibbs went to the lift again and allowed her to press the button. As soon as they reached Abby's lab he let her hand go and let her explore the room. She nearly bumped into Abby as she ran around a table looking for her pup.

"Hey! Oh man Gibbs, she's soooo cute," drooled Abby.

Nadia started at the feet of Abby platform boots and tracked the Lab Goth up to her animated pigtails, "You're a very tall Betty Boop. I have a Dora the explorer tee shirt."

"You do? Wow, she's my favorite. She's good at finding things out."

Gibbs had no idea what either one was talking about, he really didn't care. Abby in her usual way connected to people, it was a gift that in this instance he relied upon. Nadia would eventually, hopefully by the end of the day, have to relay the events and images that she had seen; to do that she would need to feel safe and among friends.

"You have to be Nadia." Continued Abby, "So this has to be your pup then." She pointed towards the dog who had curled himself up to a small furry ball in a corner. "Tony brought him to me and told me his name. I think Goliath suits him perfectly. Or perhaps you should change his name into David. You know, that was the boy who shot the evil giant Goliath with his slingshot. I mean, Goliath here, had the courage to bite Gibbs, which was pretty brave. Oh, hi Gibbs. Have you brought me some CAF-Pow? Mine is soooo empty." She looked up and smirked hopefully at her boss.

"Nope. The stone which Ducky gave to you, what is it?"

"Oh yeah! It's a completely flawless diamond. If it's cut and polished it should be worth 30'000 to 40'000 dollars."

"The video camera?"

"Still got some work. The memory card is cracked so I've got some problems to get clear pictures and the tape is a waste of time everything is destroyed. Tomorrow, Gibbs at the latest, I promise."

"Good. CAF-Pow, tomorrow then."

"Oww Gibbbbsss" whined Abby as he kissed her on the head. "Gigantic hard ass slave driver," she mumbled as he headed for the door.

"Heard That!" he yelled, then turned remembering the child still patting the sleeping puppy, "Nadia, come; we're going again."

Nadia looked up. She was petting Goliath and looked really happy for the first time since he had met her.

"No, I want to stay here."

"Nadia…"

"It's Okay, Gibbs she won't bother me, Right Shorty?"

Nadia nodded avidly, her large golden brown curls bouncing up and down.

"Okay, I'll leave you two girls alone, then. I'll be back in about an hour, first I have to talk with Vance, then Nadia needs to see Ducky, and Abby!" She looked up at him. _"__Try to take the stones away from her. They're evidence.__" _Gibbs signed then went out of the lab leaving Nadia alone with Abby.

"Are you Abby?" Nadia asked curiously looking up in Abby's face.

"Yes, I am."

"Gibbs said you were the best fors… fores… foris… FORISINC in the world." She exclaimed.

Abby smiled, she knew exactly what the little girl meant.

"Hey Nadia do you have any more of these stones?" She held up the one Ducky had given to her.

"They're stars." Nadia reached inside her shirt and took out the cotton bag. She opened it and showed it to Abby. She picked the girl up and placed her on the table. Without a word Nadia tipped the bag upside-down revealing all the stones on the table.

"Oh my god! How many are there? Lets count them."

"More than twenty. I can only count to twenty."

"It's not so difficult. I'll teach you. After twenty there's twenty-one, then twenty-two, twenty-three and so on."

"No so fast." Nadia complained and started to count the stones by herself.

"Twenty-one… twenty-two… twenty…"

"Twenty-three."

"Twenty-three…" And so it continued on the end there were a small heap of thirty-seven diamonds on the desk.

"Nadia?" Abby spoke gently. She wanted the girl to see reason and not have her throwing a tantrum in her lab. The girl looked up at her. "I need your stars for some time, but I promise I will give them back to you if I can, but until then they have to stay here. Okay?"

"NO!" Nadia shouted and quickly started to put her stars back in the bag.

"Shhh, calm down Nadia, outside there are bad men who want this stars, do you think you could protect them?"

The girl stopped putting the diamonds back into the bag and shook her head.

"That's why I want them. I can protect them from the bad men."

"Promise to give em back!" demanded Nadia.

Abby raised one hand and put the other against her heart. "I swear at the honor of each Goth in the whole world to give the stars back to you."

"Okay, here." Nadia put the last of the stones back into the bag and handed it to her. Abby took them and placed them back next to Nadia on the table.

"You see. . In here we can protect the ston…hrm stars." Nadia beamed and Abby tasseled the girl's hair.

"It drives me nuts when I think about how many CAF-Pow's I could buy with these." Abby mumbled, and reached out for her drink then sipped at it.

"Can I have some? I'm thirsty." Nadia reached out with both hands after the large cup.

"No, No, not a good idea, Gibbs would kill me if he finds out that I've let you drink CAF-Pow. I'll go and get you some water instead."

Abby placed the cup next to Nadia and went out of the room. The little girl watched and as soon as Abby was out of sight, she grabbed the drink with both hands and started to suck on the straw. It tasted absolutely disgusting. She spat it out and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. Hundreds of red spots now decorated the lab floor, "OOPPS!" Nadia got worried; Abby had said she wasn't allowed to drink the CAF-Pow, yet she had done it. Now she would surely be in trouble. She jumped from the table and started looking for something to wipe the mess up just as a breathless Abby dashed into the room.

"Sorry Shorty. The water dispenser was empty. I had to go up to get some. Here you are."

Nadia backed away with tears filling her eyes. "I… I… I…"

"Did you make this mess?" asked Abby spotting the splashes of CAF-Pow on the ground.

"Yes!" Nadia burst into tears. Abby quickly placed the cup with water on the table and picked the girl up.

"Hey, nothing to worry about. I'll get some paper towel and wipe it up. Nothing bad happened." She soothed and placed the sniffling girl on the table again handing her the cup of water.

Nadia took the cup of water, thanked her and quickly emptied it, washing away the nasty aftertaste of the CAF-Pow. As Abby mopped up the mess, Nadia took one of the large stars from the bag while she watched.

"Who gave these stones to you?" Abby asked curiously as she stood up and stretched her back.

"It was daddy. And they aren't stones. They're stars. Look they're twinkling." Nadia held one of larger diamonds against the light. A light reflection appeared on the opposite wall. Goliath's attention was immediately drawn to it. Giggling Nadia watched him as he tried to catch the moving light spot reflected on the wall.

"Let's see how he reacts on two," Said Abby grabbing another stones and joined in the game.

_**Meanwhile upstairs in Director Vance's office**_

"So where are these Diamonds?" asked Vance.

"With Abby; she's testing them. "

"Gibbs, do you think the killer was after the diamonds? The marines smuggled them into America, from where? Why's pretty obvious. That much money is motivation enough, for them and the killer"

"It may have been the killer's motivation, and most likely still is, but I don't think it was our marines' motivation. One single diamond each would have been enough to supplement their salary and stay undetected in bank accounts, but the bag contains over thirty. And Abby has estimated that one of these is worth up to 40'000 dollar. That means 1.2 MILLION dollars. No one would risk that, they would be very hard to fence or off load. There's more to their involvement."

"Maybe Gibbs. I know your gut doesn't like the thought of our Marine's committing crimes as big as this, but their reasons may have nothing to do with the killer's. Just find the killer and consider the case solved."

Muttering, Gibbs left the office. For now at least he had got what he wanted. He trusted no one to protect Nadia or even bother to find out all the details of the case. Just find the killers, said Vance. These kid reputations or motivations were irrelevant as far as the agency was concerned. But Gibbs always wanted answers. Cause and effect. And his team was the best when it came to those sorts of details. Right now Nadia was the priority, the one who needed protection. Later he would take Nadia home for protection and bring Abby along. Nadia seemed to like her and she had control over this pup. Tony and Tim could take a watch outside.

"Boss!" Tim called as Gibbs passed him. "I've found out something that could be the link between these three persons. They're all from the Congo."

"Continue."

"Well the diamonds could be from the eastern part of Congo and Congo has a lot of problems with rebels, they call themselves….. CNDP, well they say they defend the local Tutsi-population against the Hutu-extremists."

"McGee!"

"Oh yes, sorry boss. The CNDP trades with diamonds to buy weapons the black market. I'd suggest that these marines were part of the CNDP fence and distributors. They are **their** people, they wanted to help their people."

"Good job. Anything on Nadia?"

"Gibbs, I've made that." Ziva called.

Ziva hit the controls for the large screen and pulled up a recent photograph of a pretty young blond female, "Nadia, born the 12. May 2005. She's the daughter of Marie Anderson, who was married twice. Her first husband left her when he found out that she was pregnant. Her second husband, Adan Anderson married her six months ago. Marie died three months later in a car crash. She emigrated from France to America and worked here as a doctor."

"Thanks Ziva." He turned around and headed for the lift.

"Hey Gibbs, I wasn't finished." He turned around.

"Nadia is highly allergic to peanuts. Thank goodness Tony didn't give her that chocolate bar. We have to be careful with what she eats or comes into contact with. If she eats one she will go into anaphylactic shock, probably asphyxiate, we found three Eppi Pens, adrenalin shots in the hotel room, but we have to check them for fingerprints first."

"Well get a move on that then. We don't need that added threat to her life." said Gibbs. He turned around and pressed the button for the lift. He'd have to ask Ducky about the allergy and the seriousness of the health risk there, until then though Nadia wouldn't be going anywhere. Not without the medication on hand just in case she came into contact with nuts. Of course Tony and Abby were exceptions.

_**Abby's lab**_

Gibbs heard their giggles before he entered the room.

"He's after mine."

"No mine." Nadia protested.

"Enjoying yourselves?" Gibbs said smiling as he came sneaking up behind the two playing with the puppy. He watched Goliath jumping up against the wall desperately trying to catch one of the flickering lights.

"GIBBS!" The little girl yelled happily, trying to jump down from the table. He went to her before she landed and caught her.

"I missed you." She whispered into his ear hugging him tightly.

Abby grabbed her CAF-Pow and tried to take a sip.

"What the…" She tipped it upside-down. "It's empty!" She complained sounding like a small child.

"That doesn't surprise me. You drink that stuff as if it were water."

"Can you get me some more Gibbs, please? You know I can't work without my caffeine."

"Yes, you can have some with dinner, your coming to my house with Nadia. But I want you at these pictures first thing tomorrow." Gibbs said then turned his attention back to Nadia. "How do you feel?"

"Very good, but it's boring down here. I wanna play. Can we go to a playground?"

"No, I'm sorry Nadia we can't, but we can go home to my house. You can play there." Gibbs replied then looked up to Abby. "Abbs, tell the team that they can call me if they need help. Come to the autopsy when you're finished and don't forget the pup."

"Hey! How could I forget him?"

Gibbs carried Nadia to the lift and pressed the button for the autopsy. There she would be the safest, everything was sterile and Ducky was a Doctor, so he would know what to do if she had allergic reaction.

"I want you stay with Ducky until I'm back okay Nadia?" He put two fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him.

She nodded.

"I'll just go to the hospital and to get some stuff for you."

"You mean shots?" She asked shivering.

Gibbs looked at her in surprise.

"Daddy gave me a shot once. I ate a nut and then he gave me the shot. I felt a bit strange before he gave me the shot, but afterwards it felt good again, but I don't like shots, they hurt. And daddy got very angry with me and scolded me because I ate the nut. Sometimes chocolates have nuts in them so Daddy said I have to be careful. He said they would make me sick."

"He was right Nadia. Nuts do make you sick, but only peanuts." explained Gibbs.

"But I didn't feel sick." Nadia protested.

"Perhaps your daddy was quicker than the illness."

The lift doors opened with a silent ping and Gibbs carried the girl into the autopsy room. Ducky and Jimmy Palmer had just finished cleaning up after their work and looked over to Gibbs who carried Nadia.

"I don't like this place." Nadia whispered into Gibbs ear. "Can't I come with you?"

"No, sorry. You just have to stay here for a few minutes. I'll come and get you as fast as I can. I promise."

"Okay." He let her down and she walked over to Ducky and Jimmy.

"Hello Nadia. My name is Doctor Donald Mallard and this is my assistant Jimmy Palmer." He introduced them.

"Donald?" Nadia frowned up at him. "Like Donald Duck?"

Palmer tried hard to stifle a laugh and Ducky smiled. "Yes, well Donald like the Donald Duck but Mallard like the wild Duck. The male mallard duck has bright green feathers and the female light brown. Through interbreeding the rarer and brighter colored birds are becoming very rare. You know they have a special breeding program in Australia to combat some of the genetic disorders the interbreeding has caused. And another interesting…."

Nadia interrupted the nice man's incomprehensible dialogue, "So can I just call you Ducky?"

Gibbs smiled. "I'll leave you alone; back in half an hour."

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**TBC. Hope you liked it and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4 Brothers and Murder**_

It took Gibbs exactly half an hour to get the EppiPens for Nadia. As he came back Nadia was sitting on the desk, eyes and lips tightly squeezed shut as Ducky took a blood sample.

"Very good, Nadia. Just a few seconds more….. There you go. Palmer!" Jimmy was immediately at Nadia's side and put a small band-aid on the puncture. Ducky put the blood samples away and returned to the girl holding a lollipop.

"This one's for you, because you were so brave."

Nadia smiled at him, unwrapped the candy and put it in her mouth happily sucking on it. She then spotted Gibbs enter the lab and immediately reached out for him with both hands.

Smiling he picked her up, "You were very brave, I thought you would wait until I've come back."

"Ducky pro… prope… proposed that, but I didn't want to worry about the shot. I didn't want to stay afraid for long." Taking the candy out of her mouth and leaning closer to Gibbs' ear, she whispered, "And he said he would give me a lollipop."

"That was smart of him. But didn't it hurt?"

She nodded and made a grimaced face that instantly changed to a wide eyed one, with the ping of the elevator. Abby appeared from the lift. She looked around and shivered, she still didn't like autopsy. Abby was carrying Goliath in her arms, who had woken up and was now trying to lick Abby's face. She let him down and he immediately raced over to Gibbs and sunk his teeth into his trouser leg.

"He doesn't like you Gibbs." Abby smirked as Gibbs placed Nadia on a desk and reached down for the pup that was mauling on his clothes. He grabbed the pups jaw on the sides and pressed it lightly. Goliath winced and let go. But, the agent wasn't finished, he crouched down flipped the pup over to its back and gave him a light tap on the nose. Then he let Goliath go. The pup stood up again and barked at Gibbs.

"Hush now!" He ordered and tapped the pup another time on the nose. Goliath crouched down to the ground, then crawled over to Gibbs and licked his hand.

"Now, he knows who the boss is." Abby giggled. Nadia had watched the whole scene without complaining. Her daddy had done the same thing with Goliath when he had bitten her. She jumped down from the table and went over to Gibbs who was now petting Goliath's neck.

"That's better." He mused. Nadia came to his side and sat down next to her pup and took him in her arms.

"Abby, can you take the dog? I'll take Nadia." He picked her up and placed her once again on the table. Abby handed her the pup who curled himself together to a small ball on Nadia's lap.

"Nadia we need to ask you a few questions. It's about the hotel room and your daddy. Is that okay?" Gibbs asked gently.

She nodded.

"Did you see anyone with your daddy?"

"I heard someone and then there were a rumbling noise and then everything went quiet. Daddy didn't come and Goliath fell asleep and soon I too was sleeping."

"Thank you Nadia. Is there anything else you remember?"?"

"Daddy gave me the stars." Nadia was starting to feel uncomfortable. Gibbs sat down next to her, took the pup away from her lap placing it on the table then he pulled Nadia on his lap. She snuggled close to him.

"I can't remember more. I'm sorry." She whispered into his chest.

"That doesn't matter Nadia." Gibbs looked up to Ducky. "Could this be a trauma?"

The doctor shook his head. "No, Jethro. I don't think so. She is so active."

"Okay. Thanks. I take her upstairs, then I'll take her to my house. Abbs, upstairs with me."

"Yes, boss." Abby picked up the pup.

"Thanks for watching her Ducky."

"Oh, no problem. It was a pleasure to meet such an intelligent little lady." He bowed in Nadia's direction and she giggled.

"Donald is funny." She whispered into Gibbs ear not wanting Ducky to hear her. Gibbs chuckled as they headed for the lift.

"Gibbs, I'll call you when I got the results. If anything's wrong with her, I'll give you a prescription."

"Thanks Ducky."

"Gibbs, what's a presr… presrition?"

"Prescription, little one. It's like a list of medicine, that you have to take."

"Yuck! Medicine! I don't like them. I hope he doesn't give you a prescrition."

"I hope so too." Again, Gibbs let her press the button for the lift and looked down at her while he was waiting. _Cute kid_, he thought, _shoulder-length, brown lightly curled hair, blue eyes a small nose and a lovely temperament._ He went into the lift and turned around.

"Bye-bye Ducky and Jimmy!" She waved at them with one hand and took the candy out of her mouth with the other.

"Bye Nadia." They chorused and waved back. "What a delightful child." Gibbs heard Ducky mutter, before the door closed.

As they arrived upstairs they were met by three unknown agents, one woman and two men.

"Are you Special Agent Gibbs?" The woman asked.

"Yes."

"FBI, we will be taking over this case."

Gibbs anger started to rise. "Why?" He growled.

"This case involves diamond-smuggling and a connection to a known terrorist cell. This is a case for the FBI."

"Terrorist 'connections, how so?"

"The FBI thinks that these marines were involved in the war in the eastern part of Congo and we think Al Qaida aids them. Your duty may be to protect the families of the three marines. And investigate the terrorist connections, but our interest is in the diamonds, which is most likely the main motivation here anyway. " The agent said smiling. "And as there's no family, the case should be ours." She added and threw a glance towards Nadia. "Your daughter?"

"No. Anderson's daughter." Gibbs replied with a smile, obviously the FBI didn't know everything as they thought. This new information took her aback.

"Anderson didn't have any daughter. We have no knowledge of him taking care of any child either."

"Well, he did. Nadia is the daughter of Marie Anderson, his step daughter and we will protect her. She is a possible witness. They are MARINES that have been murdered and as you have pointed out connected in some way to terrorists' finances. That is of great interest to us and homeland security. The diamond smuggling is your baby. Investigate that all you want and I'll have a copy of everything you find out about that and the possible motivation of MY murder case. I want a report from you about everything you've found out." Ground out Gibbs. Keeping his stare pinned at the FBI agent, he continued, "DiNozzo, McGee, David! If you get anything call me." Gibbs turned and headed for the elevator once more.

His team sprung into action, leaving a stunned Agent speechless in the middle of the bull pen.

_**Somewhere in Washington DC**_

A tall man with pale face and dark-brown hair went into a house. He was wearing a black suit and sunglasses. He opened the door with the key he had taken from the dead marine, Anderson and closed it carefully behind him.

Now, he just had to wait for Abdulla. He would come for the diamonds. He started to case the house, hoping to find some information about Abdulla's whereabouts. As he entered the bedroom he spotted a picture on the bedside table. He went to it and picked it up. It was a photo of Anderson hugging a small girl and a pretty woman at his side. He knew the woman. It was Anderson's wife, but the little girl? He hadn't gotten any information about a child.

"_Where was she? What if she had been at the hotel? What if she had seen him?"_ He thought. He took out his gun and went from room to room checking to see if anybody was still here. Hopefully Anderson had hired a nanny for the girl and they were nowhere near the hotel at the time of the murder. After a near full sweep, he found no one in the house. He entered the last room and looked around. This was the girl's room. Toys and stuffed animals were on her bed. Finding nothing of interest, he went out in the corridor and entered another room. In there stood a large bookcase full with large Folders and ring binders.

"_Bank, Military papers, Earnings….. This Anderson had been a very orderly person." _He thought with a dry smile. Then he spotted something interesting._ "Nadia's papers."_ He took out the ring binder and opened it. Quickly he ran over the pages. _"Birth certificate, Personal data's, Health risk,….."_ He quickly folded some pages back. Health Risks: Allergic to peanuts. Therapy: Allergen-dessensisting not successful, propose…..

That was something he could use. If he had to, he could kill her without even leaving any evidence. It would look like a tragic accident. He grinned. Soon he would be finished.

Suddenly he heard the door open. He spun around and grabbed his gun. Quickly he assured himself that the silencer was on, then quietly he left the room. The noises were coming from the living room.

"Adan!" He heard someone call. "Where are you?"

He stayed silent. He just had to wait for them to come around the corner, then the he would have a clear line of fire.

_**Adan's house living room**_

Abdulla looked around. He couldn't hear anyone; something was wrong, he could feel it. Then he spotted the shadow. It was coming closer to the corner of the living room. He made a dash for the window and jumped through it. Something hit him hard in the shoulder as he flew through the glass. He picked himself up and continued to run.

He grasped his shoulder, he had been shot. He could feel his blood trickling down his side. Something hit the street lamp in front of him emitting sparks. He ducked his head and turned into a laneway. Abdulla had to get to his brother Maalik. Maalik may be a traitor but he would help him.

The killer slowed up as he came to the end of the corner, took aim and fired. The bullet narrowly missed Abdulla, hitting a trash can instead. He turned left, then right, then left again. It soon became obvious that he had somehow managed to shake off his chaser. He looked around. No one was close. Maalik…He had to get to his brother now; if the killer found him he would be as good as dead.

It was only a mile. 3016 Ordway Street Northwest Washington DC. He could do that, but the Americans mustn't see him. Pulling his collar up, he slowed down to a sustaining jog, hoping that the adrenaline still heighted in him lasted until he made it to a safe place.

_**3016 Ordway Street Northwest**_

Maalik had just come off a full twelve hour night shift. He placed his uniform in his locker, then looked around for his change of clothes. It had been a hell of a night as usual. Once, changed and went out of the DC General Hospital. An elderly lady jumped at his sight. He sighed and looked at himself. People were always doing that. What was wrong with his appearance? He was exactly eight foot tall and his hands were like shovels. His skin was dark and his facial features clearly portrayed his African heritage and genealogy. He suspected that his eight and muscular arms that were as thick as a normal man's thigh intimidated people. But he was friendly to everyone. He loved his job as a doctor; he only wanted to help people, help those that were sick. He couldn't understand why they were so afraid. He headed for the parking lot as a doctor met him in the corridor.

"Hi Maalik, haven't seen you today."

"Sorry David. I took the night shift. I'm finished for today. But I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, see you later, don't scare our patients." He joked.

Maalik grinned and shook his head. That was David's usual comment. He got into his car and drove home. As he pulled into the drive, he felt uneasy. There was something wrong, things didn't look right…Then he spotted one of the stone on his entrance; it was displaced. Maalik had been in the war. He knew immediately when something was wrong with his area. _"Had his people come here to kill him? They thought he was a traitor after all… Or perhaps it was only a burglar."_

If it were his people he wouldn't fight, he would only try to talk with them. They'd still probably shoot him, but at least he may get to say wanted he needed to say, defend himself. Maalik was tired of fighting this personal war. He slowly opened the door. No one came to meet him, perhaps it was a burglar. He went into the living room. There on the couch sat a man slumped.

"Abdulla?"

"Hey brother!" Abdulla tried to stand up, but leaned back again with a groan.

"Stay still, you've already lost a lot of blood." Maalik ordered and held him back.

Abdulla was Maalik's exact opposite; small and skinny. Maalik hoisted his brother over his shoulder and went up to his bathroom. He placed him on the ground and put a towel against the wound on Abdulla's shoulder. It had been a clean shot. He had been lucky, otherwise Maalik would have to get him to the hospital to operate on him.

"Wait here!" He ordered and went for some bandages.

As Maalik returned to the bathroom, Abdulla fainted. Before wrapping the wound he doused it with disinfectant then wrapped it tightly around his brother's shoulder,. Now he just needed painkillers. Sighing Maalik hoisted his brother up on his shoulders once again and carried him over to the guestroom. He placed him on the bed and went to his wardrobe. He had some medication there, perhaps even some strong painkillers and antibiotics. He always helped his neighbors if they were sick.

Maalik found what he was looking for and placed them on the bedside table. Abdulla had fallen asleep. . Abdulla could take them later, he would need them. Maalik looked down at his brother, concerned and fearful… _"What had happened to him? Who had shot him? Had he tried to protect him?"_

_

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**Hope you liked it Please review!**

**TBC.**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5 **_

_**Arguments and Hugs**_

Gibbs watched Nadia as she was exploring his house. From time to time he heard a thrilled squeal when she saw something she liked especially. All the time Goliath was close behind her. Abby followed the little girl sipping on a CAF-Pow. Gibbs went into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of strong coffee. It had been a long day. Suddenly his mobile phone rang. He threw a quick glance on the screen to see who was calling. It was Tony.

"Di Nozzo?"

"Boss, we just got a lead from FLETC. An Afro-American was seen jumping out of the window of Anderson's house, then he run away with another man close behind. And boss, they suspect the Afro-American was injured."

"Thanks DiNozzo. Send McGee to my house. I'm coming." He put the cell phone back into his pocket.

Gibbs looked around for Nadia and Abby. He heard giggles from upstairs and quickly headed for the stairs.

"Nadia, stop it! You could fall!" He heard Abby scold.

Worried now, Gibbs took the stairs two at a time.

"No, I won't fall, look." Nadia replied giggling.

The voices where coming from his bedroom. As he entered the room he saw Nadia happily bouncing up and down on his bed, while Abby tried to catch her. Goliath also wanted to play and tried to bite Abby's shoes.

"GIBBS!" The girl happily exclaimed, continuing to bounce on his bed.

"Nadia, stop this. Abby's right you might fall." He went around to the bed side.

Nadia giggling shook her head and continued the bouncing. Gibbs and Abby were standing on each side of the bed tentatively tracking the child's motion.

"Nadia. Stop it now!" Gibbs ordered.

Nadia shook her head again and Abby reached out for her. "Ah No you can't catch me," she sung. She side jumped in Gibbs direction where he quickly caught her by the waist. Nadia giggled and started to squirm in his grip.

"Ah! No fair, Gibbs!"

"Enough Nadia!"

"Lemme go!" She demanded squirming, "Hey can I go look at the other rooms?"

"No Nadia, hey stop kicking."

"No, wanna look in that room over there", she said, pointing a door across the hall while still kicking her legs.

Gibbs sat down on the bed and placed the energetic four year old in front of him keeping her arms in pinned to her sides in a good grip.

"Nadia, I want you to listen to me now." He put two fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him. "I want to keep you safe, but for that you have to listen to us, okay?"

Nadia looked away. She wanted to play, not listen to a lecture. The hand under her chin forced her to look back at the face that owned it.

"Nadia, I want to hear an answer."

"No, I wanna play." She lifted her head away and struggled to get free.

"Nadia, STOP IT!" He added a deep tone to his voice rather than yell. It had the desired effect; Nadia stopped, looked and listened.

"You will listen to us or I will put you across my knee and spank you."

Her eyes widened and she put her free hand back to protect her behind. She knew what a spanking meant.

"Okay." She finally said.

"Good. Now you can go playing, but downstairs; where Timothy and Abby can watch you together. There are coloring books and games. But, no playing up here and definitely no jumping on beds. I have to go back to work."

Nadia frowned, she looked up at Gibbs with a worried expression on her face, "Will you come back?"

"Yes, I will come back Nadia."

"P-promise?"

"Yes, I promise." Gibbs picked her up and placed her on his lap. "But you have to be good for Abby and Tim."

"I'm always good." She protested with all the outrage off a four year old girl.

Gibbs chuckled and tickled her tummy causing her to squeal with delight. "Then there's no problem." He gave her a kiss on the forehead and sat her down next to him on the bed.

As he stood up he felt a tug on his sleeve and looked down at the little girl.

"You forget to give good-bye hug." She raised both arms in his direction.

"How silly of me!" He picked her up and pulled her into a strong embrace. She wrapped her little arms around his neck and kissed his nose.

"Now you can go." She stated smiling.

"And so can you, now downstairs both of you." He sat her down on the ground and followed them. Gibbs punched in the alarm codes at the front door. "Abby the door alarms are on you'll need to reset them when Tim arrives. I shouldn't be gone more than a couple of hours."

"No problems, ya big Huggaroo," mocked Abby.

Gibbs left trying not to give Abby any kudos for the smirk that had started to form on his lips. "Bye, Bye, Misterhuggaroogibbs", shouted Nadia from the window.

Gibbs drove off, leaving the little girl in Abby's care, hoping that Tim got there soon. _God knows what other behavior the child would copy from Abbs. Nahh, he was only going to be gone for two hours_.

_**Adan's House**_

Gibbs looked around. There were no bullet casings, no fingerprints, no trails, and no traces at all. This killer was probably a professional. The only thing they had found was some blood on the grass, which was more than likely from the man who jumped out of the window.

"DiNozzo, David! You got anything new yet?" He hoped that he had missed something, but the chance was small. They both came to his side.

"Nothing Boss. No fingerprints, no bullet casings, no other blood spatters. There is no sign of a murderer." said Tony.

"I asked you for new information, DiNozzo." He muttered. "Look through the house a second time, double check everything."

"Everything?"

"Every paper, pen, knife, everything. What's so hard to understand?"

"Nothing Boss."

"Oh and Tony bag everything, photographs, clothes everything, even Nadia's. Take it in and tag it, get to Abby's lab."

"Sure, everything Boss." Tony went into the house again. Gibbs heard him giving some orders to the staff members. He sighed. _How would this end?_

He turned around and headed back to his car. "Ziva follow me, Tony can do this alone."

While Gibbs had been in the house he had noticed the photographs of Nadia, her father, and her mother. He had also spotted the few toys and clothes that had been in her room. He wished he been able to take something familiar back to the child, but for now everything and anything could be evidence. Of course that meant Nadia didn't have any spare clothes. She would need some. He was gonna have to take Abby, Ziva and her shopping later. Right now Abby had to work on the latest evidence. He would take Nadia and the pup back to the NCIS headquarters. She would be safe there while he and the team were working.

_**Back at Gibbs' house**_

As Gibbs opened the door something small and furry jumped up at him and barked happily. Smiling he crouched down to pat the pup, who was eagerly trying to lick his hand.

"Hi Gibbs. Hi Ziva." Abby greeted them peeking out of the kitchen. "McGee's making us some spaghetti."

"Is Gibbs here?" bellowed Nadia from the kitchen.

"Yes, he is Shorty."

"GIIIIBBS!" The four year old shrieked and ran out of the kitchen both arms raised. "Huggarooooo!" she howled.

_Great_, _the team gonna have a field day if this nickname sticks,_ thought Gibbs as he caught the silent communication of smirks and raised eyebrows between Ziva and Abby. _Ah what the hec,_ Chuckling he picked Nadia up and pulled her into a hug. Goliath turned his attention to Ziva who also bent down to greet the pup.

"Tim is making spaghetti. I love spaghetti, they're so long and I want ketchup on my spaghetti.

Doyouhaveketchup?" She said all in one breathe.

Gibbs groaned inwardly. He shouldn't let her spend too much time with Abby, now Nadia was copying speech patterns as well as her words.

"Before we eat, we need to go and back to the NCIS. Abby, Ziva, McGee! Follow me. McGee take the pup!"

He led Nadia out to his car, helped her up in the child seat and fastened the seatbelt. Ziva and Abby also got into the car, while Timothy took his own.

_**NCIS headquarter**_

It had been an hour since they arrived. Nadia had gotten tired and was now sound asleep on Gibbs chair with the thumb in her mouth, unaware of the activity around her. Gibbs had tucked her in with a blanket Ziva had found in the staff's Sick bay.

He looked over to his agents who were looking through the papers the FBI had sent to them. It was as usual a stack of files. He had always suspected that Fornell did that on purpose just wanted to keep him and his agents busy with all the paper work.

Suddenly his phone rang. Gibbs quickly reached out for it. He didn't want Nadia to wake up; she seemed to need the nap.

"Yes?"

"Gibbs, Gibbs! I've found out something really important. Come down!" He heard Abby squeal. "And don't forget my CAF-Pow."

"On my way." He put the phone back and threw a quick glance towards Nadia. She had woken up, but was still very tired.

"Gibbs?" She murmured sleepily.

He crouched down in front of her and caressed her hair.

"I'm going down to Abby." said Gibbs.

"I wanna…. wanna come with you." She mumbled reaching out with both hands.

"I'll soon be back."

"Noooo….." She started to stand up. Gibbs let out a sigh and picked her up. Nadia was definitely a hugger. He supported her behind with one arm while she put one arm around his neck, laid her head on his shoulder and put her thumb into her mouth. A few seconds later she was asleep again. He thought of putting her back into the chair, but decided not to do it. If she woke up she most likely fret. He remembered a very young Kelly behaving the very same way. So, with the sleeping child nestled in his arms he headed over for the lift, and sent Abby a text message, SHUT OFF your MUSIC.

They entered the lab finding it unusually quiet. They couldn't see Abby anywhere. Suddenly, she popped out from behind a corner and took a photo of him.

"Aww, you two look so cute." She whispered trying to stifle a giggle.

Gibbs frowned at her, but couldn't help but smile, "What did you find out?"

"Look at the computer." signed Abby and started to click open some files. Gibbs started to read, but Abby tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, I want to tell you."

Gibbs sighed and nodded.

Abby hopped with excitement, turned and started her report, "The blood outside on the grass was from a certain Abdulla Kutesa. The FBI sent me some information about him. He's a leader of the CNDP. Before Abdulla became the leader another guy called Maalik was….. Oh and Gibbs we found over HUNDRED diamonds hidden in some of Nadia's toys. This Anderson must have been a smart guy. No one had gotten the idea to look in the toys, but they weren't completely flawless like the other Nadia had with her, you know the toy it was in was a big stuffed elephant. It was colored grey and it was so fluffy and cute and….."

"Abbs!"

"Right, only important information. Abdulla looks like this." She clicked on a data file and a picture appeared on the screen. The man on the picture was small and skinny. The Afro-American had a bald head and a scar on above the right eye.

"Good job Abby." Gibbs praised and kissed her on the top of the head. "I'll bring you the CAF-Pow as soon as Nadia has woken up. We need to go and buy her some clothes tomorrow. You'll come with me." He whispered into her ear.

"Cool!"

_**3016 Ordway Street Northwest**_

Abdulla woke up from the terrible pain in his shoulder. As he sat up he spotted the painkillers on the bedside table. He quickly took two of them at once and stood up.

"Maalik?" He called.

A few seconds later he heard the heavy footsteps of his older brother. "How are you feeling?" asked Maalik, coming into the room.

"Like shit. When do these painkillers start to work?"

"How many did you take?"

"Two."

"About twenty minutes, you can take two every three hours. They're not strong. Do you need something else?"

"No….." Abdulla was feeling uncomfortable. If he had met Maalik in Congo he had probably shot him. Maalik was considered a traitor, he had abandoned his people. Abdulla's family had always told him that and he had believed them. But now this so called traitor was helping him.

Maalik sensed the injured mans apprehension, "Are you here to kill me brother, if so I won't fight you," he asked calmly.

"No, I'm not here to kill you Maalik." Abdulla didn't say brother. He didn't know what he should say, but finally the question which had bothered him his whole life came out of his mouth, "Why did you leave your people?"

Maalik sighed and looked down on his hands. "Lets go downstairs and talk." He proposed and headed for the stairs.

Downstairs Maalik lowered himself on the couch and Abdulla sat down on an armchair. The two different brothers stared at each other until Abdulla repeated his question again.

"Why did you leave us Maalik?"

The Afro-American let out a loud sigh then he simply said, "I think war isn't an answer."

Abdulla waited for further explanations, but Maalik stayed quiet. "YOU STOPPED FIGHTING ONLY BECAUSE OF THAT?" He yelled outraged, "DO YOU THINK I ENJOY KILLING. IT WAS THE OTHERS WHO STARTED IT AND WE WILL BRING IT TO AN END! IT WAS THEM WHO SLAUGHTERED HUNDREDS OF INNOCENT PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE HELPING US! WE WILL HAVE REVENGE FOR THIS! THEY ARE THE EVIL! WE ARE THE ONES WHO ARE FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM!"

"What freedom?" asked Maalik, interrupting his younger brother's ranting.

"The freedom of our people." Abdulla replied in calmer but proud voice.

"And what revenge are you talking about?"

"The revenge for killing civilians, women, old people and even children. They killed them with their machetes."

"And what did you do? You went with an army to a village and killed all the civilians there as revenge."

"They were spying on us. It was justified."

"What do you think they now think of you? They hate you and fear you. We did the same. **I** nearly did the same. And the civilians hated us. My commander wanted me to do it, but I refused, because I didn't see the reason why a little girl should die, just because she might have given the enemy some food, because she wanted them to leave their family alone. And then we came to kill her whole family, because she helped the enemy. Don't you see that this is crazy? They fight because you did something in the past and you fight because they did something as revenge. Both sides have faults. The whole war is a huge mistake. Why don't you see that?"

Abdulla gritted his teeth. _Yes, he would have shot him, but now he owed this brother something, because Maalik had helped him._

"I understand." He said coldly.

"No, you don't little brother and I feel sorry for you, but I will help you no matter what because you're my family. Stay as long as you want. I'm gonna really help my people... All my people, the only way I know how!"

"HOW?" Abdulla asked sarcastically.

"I'm gonna build a hospital in the Congo. That's real help. And there I will tend anyone who needs my help."

"I'm going back to bed. I can't listen to you anymore." Abdulla said but didn't move.

"It's your decision brother. If you need something call me. I'll have to go and work early tomorrow so I'm in my bed."

Maalik was the first to leave. He stood up and went up to his room leaving his brother alone in the living room. _Why didn't Abdulla listen to him? Was it that hard to understand? _He lay down in his bed and the last thought which crossed his mind before he fell asleep was: _When would this war end?_

_

* * *

_

Hope you liked and **_pleeeeeaaaaase review!_**

**TBC.**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Tantrums and Nightmares**_

_**Gibbs' house**_

Nadia hadn't woken up. All the time while Gibbs had been working she had slept, tucked up into a tight little ball, wrapped in a blanket Abby had brought with her, sucking her thumb in the corner behind his chair. She hadn't even woken up as he had carried her to the car and put her into the child seat. As he reached his house, she had opened one eye and murmured something but then she put her thumb into her mouth and fell asleep again. With a sigh Gibbs picked her up again and carried her into his house, Tony, Ziva and Abby were close behind. Timothy had gone home. It was already dark outside.

"She's so cuddlesome." whispered Abby to Ziva.

The female agent didn't answer but smiled.

Gibbs didn't listen to Abby's chatter as he carried Nadia up to the guestroom, where he gently tried to wake her up.

"Nadia. You have to wake up." He whispered into her ear and caressed her back and head. Slowly she opened her eyes and yawned.

"No, wanna sleep." She mumbled.

"You can't sleep in your clothes silly." Gibbs started to undress her, while a very drowsy Nadia tried to help him as best she could. Once down to her underwear, Gibbs slipped an old NCIS-shirt over her head, then he carefully tucked her in and kissed her forehead.

"Sleep tight Nadia."

She mumbled an incomprehensible answer and was soon asleep again. Gibbs watched the sleeping girl for some seconds before he went down stairs again.

"She's sleeping." He announced rounding the banister.

"She had an eventful day." Abby said with a sad smile.

"Yes, she has. We should get some sleep too; tomorrow will be a long day. We'll need to buy some clothes and a few things, while you're testing hers." Gibbs said.

The girls made their way to their room. Gibbs waited until he heard their door close, he then activated the alarm, flicked the lights off and went upstairs to his bed.

A tall man was coming towards Nadia. She tried to run away, but her feet were like glued to the ground. She knew the man was bad, no worse, he was evil. She tried to get her feet away from the ground, but she wasn't able to move. Soon the man was close enough to her. He raised both arms in her direction and laughed maliciously…

Nadia bolted upright with a scream that came from deep down, then burst into tears.

"DADDY!" cried Nadia, panic stricken, she got out from her bed and headed for the door looking for someone who could offer the comfort she wanted.

"DADDY?" She called again as the door to her bedroom burst open. Afraid she stumbled backwards, bumping into the wall. A tall man walked into the room and came towards her.

"NOOOOOO!" She screamed as the man reached out for her and picked her up. She squirmed and kicked her legs trying to get out of his grip.

"Shhhhh. Nadia it's me, Gibbs. Calm down, I've got you, you're safe." His familiar voice chased away the rest of her nightmare and she buried crying her head in Gibbs' chest.

Two seconds later Ziva and Tony came into the room with their guns drawn. Abby stood behind them armed with a bedside lamp.

"What happened Boss?" asked a still dozy DiNozzo as he saw the little girl only clad in an oversized NCIS shirt clinging to Gibbs.

"She had a nightmare. That's all. Go back to sleep. I'll take care of her." He carried her into his room and sat down on the bed. Nadia was still crying and clung to him as if her life depended on it.

"Shhhh. Nadia, I've got you. Hushhhhhh." Gently he rocked and patted the little girl on his lap. Slowly she started to calm down and looked up at him.

"What did you dream sweetheart?"

"A bad man wanted to take me." She whispered and Gibbs felt her hands grabbing him tighter.

"It was only a bad dream Nadia. Nothing more." He soothed and kissed her forehead. Gently he wiped away a single tear which trickled down her face with his thumb.

"Can I… can I…" She stopped and looked away. "Can I sleep with you?" She asked finally.

"Of course you can, but you might be more comfortable with Ziva and Abby, there are two of them."

"No, No, No please the bad man will get me! Please!" she cried, nearly hysterical.

"Shhh, Okay, Okay," Gibbs nodded to his team standing at the door, watching their boss rock the toddler in his arms, "It's okay, I got this, just leave the door open , I may need you girls if she wakes again."

Gibbs laid down on the bed placing the Nadia next to him and put an arm around her as she snuggled close to his side. Carefully he covered them both with the blanket and soon they were both asleep again.

_**Next Morning**_

Gibbs poured himself a cup of strong black coffee. Nadia was sitting on a chair and eating her third piece of toast with jelly. She was still only clad in Gibbs' old NCIS-shirt. Ziva and Tony were both sipping on a coffee and were watching the little girl who munched happily on her breakfast.

"Are you full?" Gibbs asked as she put her half eaten toast back on the plate.

She nodded, jumped off her chair and went to look after her pup. As she headed for the door to the basement, Gibbs quickly called her back. He didn't want her to accidentally stand on a nail or something else.

"Nadia, you're not allowed to go down there by yourself."

"Why?" She whined and turned around nearly tripping over his shirt.

"You might get hurt, and I don't want that to happen. Goliath is upstairs with Abby. He went into her room and crawled into bed with her." He laughed, tapping the small child on the nose.

"Is Abby still sleeping?"

"Yes, but you can go and wake her up."

Cheering Nadia started to run up the stairs as fast as she was able. She loved waking up people in the morning. As she entered the bedroom she spotted Abby lying on the bed with Goliath on her stomach. Nadia tip toed over to the bed and climbed as quietly as she could up onto Abby's bed next to her. She held her breath for a second, hoping that the woman had not woken up. She hadn't. With a loud cheer, Nadia jumped on Abby. Goliath jumped up and started to bark wildly.

"Ahhhh,Omph, morning Shorty." Abby said laughing as the toddler landed on her chest. She wrapped Nadia into a hug.

"Gibbs said you have to get up." Nadia said and reached out for Goliath. The pup happily jumped towards her and started to lick her face. Giggling the girl pushed the dog away from her face and patted it instead. Goliath rolled onto his back so she could reach his stomach and scratch him there. "And he said we're all going shopping."

"Are all the others up?" asked Abby.

Nadia nodded.

"Oh shit!" Abby jumped out of her bed and quickly got herself dressed.

"You said a bad word." Nadia pointed out and frowned at the Goth.

"Yes, I did. Sorry for that Shorty." Abby picked Nadia up and sat her up on her shoulders. The girl squealed with delight and held onto Abby's pigtails, like they were the reigns of a horse she'd ridden on the merry go round.

"Giddyup!" Nadia plucked on Abby's pigtails.

"Don't pull so hard, Nadia." Abby scolded but started to walk towards the door. "Watch your head!" she sung as she dipped under the door frame.

As they came downstairs Nadia yelled excited. "Look Gibbs I gotta horse." Chuckling Gibbs reached out for her and lifted her down.

"Let Abby eat her breakfast now, little cowgirl."

He sat down on the only free chair and placed the girl on his lap. She snuggled tight to him and put her thumb into her mouth.

"Still tired?" He teased and tickled her tummy. Nadia giggled and tried to slap his hands away. His team watched him while he entertained the girl. She liked him. Gibbs seemed so natural with her.

"Ziva, you'll come shopping with me and Abby this afternoon. Nadia needs some clothes. Tony, go back to headquarters and go through everything the FBI has sent us. And tell McGee to come here. He can watch the pup."

The senior agent stood with a sigh, "Yes, boss."

"Good, we'll stay here and watch this little lady."

"Can we go to the playground?" Nadia asked eagerly.

"Yes, I suppose we can." Gibbs replied after some thought.

"Thank you, Huggaroo." Sang Nadia as she grabbed him around the neck and kissed his cheek, then crawled down from his lap calling for Goliath.

"Little Miss Dynamic is on the roll." Abby smirked and went after Nadia sipping on her CAF-Pow.

_**Later that afternoon**_

"Ziva come. We're going." Gibbs said holding Nadia by the hand. They had been at the playground all morning and the girl had managed rip holes in her jeans. Now she really needed some new clothes.

"Gibbs, don't you think the two of us are capable of taking her shopping and watching her?" Abby asked concerned.

Gibbs tilted his head and raised his eyebrow.

"Okay, okay, I will never ask the big huga….ahh… I mean the almighty Gibbs something like that again." She beamed a contrived smile.

Gibbs shook his head and led Nadia to his car. As He helped her up in the child seat and fastened the seatbelt she protested meekly but stopped as he tapped her lightly on the nose and told her to stop whining. She had been playing all morning, she just took a break for a short nap, but in no less than thirty minutes later, she was running circles around them again.

_**At the Mall**_

As Gibbs entered the shop holding Nadia's hand and with the two girls behind, he remembered how it had been with Kelly. Of course he hadn't had the girls with him that time but he had exactly the same feeling. It would be fun but tiring. He also knew that soon Nadia would get bored and want to do something else. He took a deep breath and nodded at Ziva and Abby. They knew what they had to do.

"Alright Nadia what do we get you first?" Gibbs asked.

"Sweat pants." She said and dragged him away to a stand next to the gym clothes.

"What size are you, Nadia?" He said, looking through some pants.

"Dunno." The answer came. "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh I want these." Nadia yelled excited grabbing a pair of grey sweat pants.

"Not the blue ones?" Gibbs asked and held up a pair of blue sweats the same size in front of her. The girl shook her head and held the grey ones tightly in her hands.

"They're fluffier. I want these."

Gibbs smiled. She was happy and still excited; that was a good sign. Hopefully it would continue.

"But let me check your size first," He turned her around and looked at the label on the waist of her pants.

"Lemme go." She demanded and squirmed. Gibbs did as she said and threw a quick glance on the size-number on the grey sweats. They were too big.

"Nadia the grey ones are too big. You'll have to choose another pair."

"NO! I WANT THESE!" She yelled and pressed the pants tightly to her chest as Gibbs tried to take them away from her. _God Lord! It's already started._ With a sigh Gibbs crouched down in front of the four year old.

"Nadia you have to try them on before I'll buy them for you."

She nodded, but kept the pants still tight in her grip.

"First we'll look at some other clothes and when we're finished I'll buy you some ice-cream, but….."

"YAY!" Nadia cheered no longer listening to him. Gibbs put two fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him.

"I wasn't finished yet Nadia. I only buy you some ice-cream if you behave."

This added statement caused Nadia to pout. "Why are big men always so mean? Daddy always said I had to be good for ice-cream."

Gibbs chuckled. She looked cute when she was acting like this.

"It's not funny!" She yelled and putt her small hands against her hips glaring up at him. She had totally forgotten about her grey sweat pants, which were now lying on the ground.

"Sorry Nadia." He apologized and stifled his laughter. "Come, let's look at some shirts and pullovers for you."

He picked the grey sweats up and tucked them under his arm. If he didn't take them with him she would throw a right royal tantrum. Ziva and Abby followed them to the next section, carefully eyeing all the people in the shop, but there was no one suspicious.

_**Ten minutes later…**_

"NO!"

"Nadia, this is the last shirt you have to try, then you just have to try on some pants or dresses." said Gibbs trying to entice Nadia to try on a shirt more to her liking.

Until now it had all gone very smoothly, the shopping that is. Nadia had tried some shirts and pullovers that she would need and even some that she wouldn't but had really liked. However, right now the little girl was sitting on the ground her arms folded and shaking her head wildly saying, "No, no, no, no, no, no,…."

Some people had stopped and were watching the child with a smile and some with a frown.

"Nadia. Stop this tantrum!" Gibbs ordered. He was slowly losing his patience. The little girl ignored him and continued saying the same word all over again.

"No, No, No, No…"

"If you don't stop right now young lady, you won't get any ice-cream." He stated firmly.

That worked. Sulking Nadia stood up, grabbed the shirt he held in his hands and yanked it away, ripping a seam. The rest of his patient was slowly disappearing. He took Nadia's chin firmly with two fingers and crouched down in front of her.

"Young lady, if you continue behaving like this, I'm gonna swat your little backside. And now we have to buy this shirt anyway, because you ripped it." He looked for the hole on the shirt and quickly found it. It was just big enough that he could put his finger through it and so he did. "You made this hole Nadia. That was naughty and you're very close from losing the privilege of an ice-cream on the end of our shopping tour."

In the first seconds of Gibbs' scolding Nadia had looked ashamed, but as he said that she was close to losing her ice-cream-privilege anger replaced her demeanor. "Yes sir." She said sullenly.

"Good, now we're going to buy some trousers and dresses for you." He took her by the hand and led her over to the next shelf. Nadia had lost any goodwill for cooperation and just grumbled when Gibbs showed her some new trousers. When she snubbed him after he tried to entice her to try a dress the little rest of his patient completely disappeared. "Now, I've had enough of you young lady." He picked her up and sat her down on the nearest chair. "If you are going to sulk then you can do all the sulking you want on this chair. You can just stay here and let me pick some clothes for you. And you will not move from this chair is that clear?"

Nadia crossed pouting her arms. "_This Gibbs was mean and bossy. She only wanted her ice-cream. She didn't want to look at these dumb clothes anymore_." She silently grumbled.

"Nadia!" He warned his voice lightly deeper now.

Uh-oh she knew this tone. It meant she was in trouble. "Yes." She replied.

"Good." He turned around and headed back to the shelf.

Nadia looked around. Ziva and Abby were both checking the closest surroundings for any suspects. Nadia was getting bored sitting on the chair. She looked over to Gibbs. He had his back to her. Quickly the little girl jumped down from the chair and ran to the other side of a shelf.

Now she only had to find the door, where she had seen the ice-cream store close by.

"NADIA?" She heard Gibbs suddenly call. Afraid she looked around. There was no good place to hide except…. The child ran to the shop window and hid herself behind one of the store mannequins, which were wearing the latest fashions.

"Nadia, where are you?" This time it was Abby who called. She sounded worried and suddenly Nadia felt a bit guilty for running away. As she heard a knock behind her she turned around. Some people were watching her with wide eyes through the glass at the front of the store.

"Go away!" She said and poked her tongue out at them, but the people outside just laughed.

"NADIA! SAY SOMETHING!" Abby yelled again. Her worried tone had changed into a frightened one. Nadia threw a quick glance into the shop again and squeaked out with surprise. Gibbs was standing with his back turned towards her. As he heard her squeak he spun around and grabbed the back of her clothes.

"Where were you?" He asked angrily.

"I….. I….. I…. uhm." As she didn't come with an explanation he lifted her up and put her across his shoulder.

"Abby, Ziva! I've got her."

Nadia wriggled and squirmed in Gibbs' grip. She knew she was in trouble.

"Lemme go!" She kicked her legs and suddenly she felt a swat against her butt. Tears welled up in her eyes. That had stung!

As Gibbs spotted a door with the inscription "Staff only", he headed for it and quietly entered the room. It was a small staff room. Gibbs looked around. No one was in the room. He let out a sigh. He didn't want to deal with her in the public, but she had crossed the line far too many times in the last hour. He sat down on a chair and stood the sniffling four year old in front of him.

"Nadia, do you know what you did wrong and why it was?" Gibbs asked and looked sternly down on her.

"I….." Her voice faded away.

"I'm listening."

She looked up, but quickly lowered her gaze again as she saw how angry he was. Gibbs waited impatiently. As she didn't say anything he took her chin and forced her to look at him.

"You threw a tantrum in the store. You ripped a shirt. You were cheeky and replied disdainfully when I asked you something. And then you ran away and hid yourself in the shop window and made us all worry. That was very naughty, Nadia."

By the end of the lecture tears trickled down Nadia's cheek. When she had done these things they hadn't seemed that bad.

"You know you deserve a spanking for this." With these words he picked her up and placed her across his knee.

"No, I sorry." Nadia begged and kicked her legs.

Gibbs tried to ignore her begging and brought his hand down on her backside. Nadia started to cry and wriggled and squirmed in his grip like a worm. Gibbs hesitated, had he hit her to hard? He shook his head. He knew he had barely smacked her hard enough to cause a sting. He quickly delivered the last four swats not wanting to drag this out.

At the end of this volley Nadia let out a pitiful "Owwww!" and started to sob.

He lifted her up and sat her down on his lap. Crying the child buried her face in his chest.

"Shhhh. Nadia it's over. Hushhhhh." Gently he rocked her from side to side, all the while rubbing soothing circles on her back.

"I sooorry." She sobbed.

"Shhhh. You're forgiven Sunshine. Everything is forgiven." He stood up and carried her out of the room. Abby and Ziva were waiting outside. He nodded against them and they went on patrol again.

Gibbs continued to rock and pat Nadia until she calmed down again. Hiccupping she rubbed her eyes with her small fists.

"My bum stings." She whimpered and hid her face in his clothes again. He kissed her on the top of the head.

"It's supposed to Sweetheart. Let's try some trousers and then I'll buy you some ice-cream." He added wanting to cheer her up.

"Thank you." She mumbled. "I'm sorry."

"It's forgiven." He assured her. The rest of the shopping passed quickly as the girl was now willing to try everything without complaining.

"Gibbs, can we eat in Fimonela istoante?" Nadia asked as she came out of the changing room. She had just tried the last pair of jeans. Ziva and Abby joined them, relieved that the shopping trip was over.

"Could you say that again please?" Gibbs asked crouching down in front of her.

"Fi…. Fim…." Nadia put a finger against her lips trying to remember.

"She means the Filomena Ristorante Gibbs. It's an Italian restaurant in Georgetown. They've got the best pizza in the whole of America." Abby explained with a smile. "How do you know this place Shorty?"

"Daddy took me there. He took me there often. He said he had met my mommy there."

"Please?" The girl begged, while jumping on the balls of her feet and tugging on Gibbs shirt.

Gibbs sighed. "Okay, Ziva and Abbs bag and tag the shopping, we'll eat our dinner there," He turned to Nadia and bobbed his finger at her, "but afterwards you'll go straight to bed."

"Yes, I promise." The girl was all smiles, but then her smile suddenly faded. "WAIT! I nearly forgot, what about my ice-cream?"

_**Gibbs house**_

Tim had brewed himself a huge cup of coffee, while he feed the puppy in the kitchen. He had found an old container and filled it with water. The left over bacon in the fridge provided some protein that the little pup gobbled up.

Within minutes of finishing his meal the pup was scratching at the back door.

"Good boy," crooned Tim, "How nice for the boss, a house trained puppy."

Tim punched in the alarm codes and let the puppy into the back yard, following him, in case he headed out. Goliath explored Gibbs' back yard, sniffing and peeing, making his mark as he surveyed the small neglected bushes of his boss's fence line.

"Okay Goliath, you've marked your territory. You're going kill Gibbs plants if you pee any more on them. Though maybe, you could plead a case of euthanasia with these poor things." Tim went to scoop up the pup, when it scuttled off. He panicked and chased him; thank goodness Goliath scooted back through the kitchen's back door. Goliath was rather enjoying the game this human was playing and bolted hell for leather through the house, knocking over his water bowl and several other items along the way. Tim soon had the canine criminal in his sights. He was in Gibbs room where a nice pair of soft leather scuffs was much more interesting and felt good for his teething gums.

Meanwhile a stranger watched the antics of a young man trying to catch a small dog. That was the child's dog, he was certain. He had seen the NCIS agents and their cars at Adan's house earlier that morning. He had gone back to see if he could find anything that would lead him to the girl or Abdulla. He watched the grey headed man give orders, then leave with a pretty young woman. He had followed them back to NCIS headquarters, then again when they had headed home. It was here he decided to wait….. wait for an opportunity to strike.

The man opened the back door. He had gotten all the information he needed. It was highly possible that the girl knew something. After all she was being protected. Well, she had to be eliminated. But it had to look like an accident.

Carefully the man closed the door behind him. Now he only had to put the peanut-powder somewhere, where the girl would come in contact with them. The beds! He went up the stairs. He could hear the young man trying to convince the dog to give up a slipper. The man quickly withdrew and lay flat against the wall. He peeked around the corner and saw the young man's back. He quickly entered the nearest room to him, quietly closing the door. It was another bedroom. He took out the bag with the powder and carefully spread the powder on the pillows. The girl was as good as dead.

Goliath suddenly stopped gnawing on Gibbs scuffs and started barking; he headed for the hallway and stopped abruptly at the door of the guest room. Jumping and scratching.

"Oh, no you don't Goliath, now move. It's downstairs for you. Come on I'll make you a bed in the kitchen."

The man froze with the sound of voices coming from outside the door. He slowly walked backwards not taking his eyes of the door. Once his back hit the window, he opened it and sat on its ledge. He was at least fifteen feet up but a rather robust looking tree branch reached out nearby. He made his descent and was gone in minutes.

Goliath still barked all the way to the kitchen. Tim surveyed the area, and then remembered he needed to reset the alarms, and then did so. Little did he know that it was too late.

_**Some hours later**_

Gibbs carried a sleeping Nadia to the bed in the guestroom. She had fallen asleep during dinner. Carefully he tucked her down and kissed her forehead.

"Sleep tight Nadia." He whispered fondly.

As Gibbs started to close the door he took one last look at the sleeping child. Suddenly he heard her cough. Frowning he walked back across the room and noticed the window open. Concerned the cooler night air was irritating the child he closed it. As he turned around he saw that Nadia had sat up and was now awake, rubbing her eyes and breathing unusually, she grabbed her throat. A strange whistling wheeze escaped her lips. Nadia looked up at Gibbs; her eyes had started to swell and a lonely tear escaped her eyes before she fell back on the bed kicking her legs and gasping for air.

"SHIT, ABBY!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Nadia's lips were turning blue then all of sudden her body went limp.

* * *

**TBC. Rather long chapter, the next one will be shorter. Hope you liked it and please review.**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Doctors and Sneezes**_

"ABBY! GET AN EPPIPEN!" Gibbs yelled at the top of his lungs. Nadia's face started to turn blue.

Abby heard Gibbs yell and knew immediately that Nadia had had an anaphylactic shock. She grabbed two EppiPens and ran up the stairs. She met Gibbs in the corridor. He put Nadia to the ground and propped up her legs on his knees. Abby removed the cap from the EppiPen and pushed the pen into Nadia's thigh releasing the spring loaded needed and instantly injecting the adrenaline. Five seconds passed.

"Gibbs shouldn't it….." Nadia took a long wheezing breathe before she could finish the sentence. As ten seconds had passed, Abby removed the needle from Nadia's thigh and Gibbs carefully massaged Nadia's thigh.

Abby had meanwhile taken out her mobile phone and called 911.

"Hi I need an ambulance… anaphylactic shock of a four year old… yes we have administered one Eppi Pen junior… yes we have one more… please hurry….. Come to Gibbs' house now. She's still breathing very strangely. Send an ambulance now!"

"ABBS, the address!" Gibbs growled and checked over Nadia. She had woken up by now but was breathing heavily; laboring and using the ancillary muscles in her stomach to get air in and out.

"Yeah right. 1302 East Capitol Street Northeast come as quick as possible."

"Shhhhh, easy Nadia. Easy. Try to breath slower." Gibbs soothed and stroked her head. Tears welled up in the child's eyes and she tried to sit up, but Gibbs gently pushed her back.

"Don't move. Try to relax. Everything will get well again. I promise." He heard Goliath bark from downstairs and was relieved that Tony held the pup back. He would only be in the way.

Ten minutes later the ambulance arrived. Gibbs carried Nadia down past Tony, who still held Goliath by the neck, and walked out of the door, where he met the two emergency medics.

Now that she had enough air again Nadia started to cry. One of the men quickly gave her a shot with a pacifier inhaler then Gibbs gently laid her down on a gurney.

"Gibbs….. don't go." She whimpered and reached out for his hand. She was already half asleep.

"I won't go Nadia. I'm close by."

"Can I…." Gibbs threw a questioning look at one of the medics. The man nodded and lifted the gurney into the ambulance. Gibbs climbed in behind and took Nadia's hand in his.

"Everything will be fine Nadia. I promise." He whispered into her ear and kissed her forehead. Then she finally fell asleep. One of the doctors handed Gibbs a paper.

"Could you fill in this?" He asked. Gibbs nodded.

"Which hospital are we going?"

"DC General Hospital." The answer came promptly.

"Good," Gibbs started to fill in the paper, while the doctor put an intravenous line into a vein on Nadia's left hand and put her on Oxygen.

"Weak antihistamine to stabilize her systemic circulation." He explained to a curious looking Gibbs.

**Ten minutes later**

Gibbs was standing in an emergency room cubical watching the sleeping girl. She seemed to relax more and more. However, he was not and paced the small space impatiently waiting for the doctor.

"Why doesn't he come?" He muttered. A second later the door burst open and a huge Afro-American came in.

"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting, but there has been a car crash and some were seriously injured." He apologized as he went over to Nadia's bed. He looked at the bag with the antihistamine and made some notes on Nadia's patient clip board file.

"When will she be alright again?" asked Gibbs. He wasn't sure how much he should tell the doctor, but it may be necessary and in Nadia's best interest and health. Besides doctors were bound by a medical confidentiality clause, but before he could continue his thoughts, the doctor answered him.

"We'll keep her here until the day after tomorrow, just to have an eye on her in case she has a second shock. I'll give her a very low dose of Glukokortikosteroids. They will stabilize her blood circulation and most likely prevent a second anaphylactic shock, but an element of risk still remains. And I don't want to take any chances. I've seen her patient file; she had had one second shock despite the Glukokortikosteroids once. Now what I'd like to know how she came into contact with the peanuts?" He looked at Gibbs.

"Ah Doctor?"

"Oh right, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Doctor Maalik Kutesa."

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs. And someone tried to kill her. I suspect he or she put peanut powder on her pillow."

"Hmmm… I'll send up a nurse to clean the girl's nose. Later I'll clean the upper respiratory tract in case some of the powder has come down there too. Have you called the police?"

"Not necessary." Gibbs replied and showed Maalik his badge. "My colleagues will be here in a few minutes."

"Okay. Is there something else I should know?" Maalik asked throwing a sympathetic glance towards Nadia. Then his eyes suddenly narrowed and he threw a quick glance towards Gibbs who was still watching Nadia. He hadn't noticed anything.

"No, there isn't anything else." Gibbs said.

"Okay. See you soon then. " Maalik turned around and left the room again.

Gibbs liked the man. He didn't ask unnecessary questions. He looked over at Nadia again, who had put her thumb into her mouth and smiled a little in her sleep. He sat down on the bed and gently caressed her hair. She suddenly woke up and looked anxiously around. "Shhhh. Everything is okay Nadia." Gibbs soothed and gently caressed her hair.

"Wh-where are we?" she asked.

"We're in the hospital. You were ill, but you are better and will get very well soon."

She raised both arms in his direction, when she suddenly spotted the needle in her hand. "What's this?" She carefully touched the flexible tube, eyeing it distrustfully.

"No, Nadia don't touch it. It is making you feel better."

The little girl reached out with both arms after Gibbs again. He picked her up carefully avoiding tangling up the infusion and placed her on his lap. She snuggled close to him and buried her face in his chest. She started to sniffle and soon she was openly crying as the shock, the fear and the adrenaline of her medication all caught up with her mind.

"Hushhhh Sweetheart. Hushhhh. Nothing bad will happen again. I promise."

He heard someone come into the room and threw a glance at the door. It was Abby.

"Is she alright?" She asked.

"Yes, she's alright now."

"I've found something for her." Abby held up a big stuffed elephant. "It looks exactly like the one she had before. I knew you would be close to her and I wanted to buy her something to cheer her up and…" Her voice faded away. Gibbs knew what she meant. She wanted to give Nadia something familiar back. She wanted her to feel safe and comfortable.

"Nadia. Look Abby's here and she brought you a present." Gibbs said, and gently releasing himself out of her grip.

"Really?" Nadia sniffled and looked up.

"Yes. I brought you your elephant." Abby said with a smile handing the girl the toy.

"ELLIE!" The girl exclaimed and hugged the elephant tightly. "Thank you!" She reached out to hug Abby.

Abby smiled, picked the child up and sat down on the bed, "I was so afraid when I saw what was happening to her." Abby whispered to Gibbs.

"I know…. Me too. I hope we'll catch this asswipe soon."

"I could kill this bastard." Abby growled.

"What does bastad mean?" A little voice asked. Nadia looked curiously up to Abby whipping her eyes with her right hand.

"Oh…. Uhm….." Abby stammered.

"It's a very bad word Nadia and I don't want you to say it and Abby is very sorry because she said it right?" Gibbs said giving Abby a mock scowl.

"Yeah right. I'm really, really, really sorry."

"Okay. So what about asswipe; is that a better word. " Nadia murmured and put her thumb into her mouth. Before Gibbs' guilty blush had disappeared she was fast asleep again.

Abby gently tucked her back into the bed and stood up just as a nurse entered the room. In her hand she held a nasal spray and in the other some Kleenex, "I'm afraid I have to wake her up again." She said with an apologetic smile.

"Okay. I'll help you."

"Thanks."

The nurse headed to the other side of the bed as Gibbs gently stroked Nadia's hand.

"Wake up Little One. They need to clean your nose."

Nadia opened one eye and tried to frown at him, but was too sleepy, so it looked more like a tired pout.

"Come on, it won't take long." Gibbs sat the girl up and nodded towards the nurse. She inserted the nasal of the nasal pump and sprayed a small amount into the Childs nose. Nadia's eyes went wide and she started to sneeze as the warm saline tickled as it cleaned the fine particles of dust and powder. The nurse quickly held a Kleenex against her nose, while Nadia blew.

Nadia protested loudly as the young nurse repeated the procedure three more times until only the water came back out, "You're mean," she pouted and frowned at the nurse who just smiled back.

"Hey, don't be cheeky, the nurse is helping you Nadia." Gibbs tapped her nose.

"She put water into my nose!"

Gibbs smiled and tucked her in again. There was no use to discussing this with her now; the child was still so vey sleepy from the both the medication and her initial reaction. It had been a long night for all of them.

The door opened again and Doctor Kutesa entered the room carrying a drip with the Glukokortikosteroids, "Okay. This medicine will make you healthy and feel so much better by tomorrow morning." He said to Nadia.

"Why does it take so long?" She asked frowning at the doctor.

"It's not so long. More than likely you will sleep until then. And when you wake up everything will be alright again and then If you are a good girl I will order you some ice cream."

"Really? Ice cream for breakfast? Yayyy! You're a really nice doctor not like her!" She said pointing with one finger at the nurse. The nurse snickered so did Maalik.

"Nadia it's not nice to point at other people." Gibbs rebuked her gently, pulling her finger down while trying to stifle a smile.

"Hurmmpft, she's still a meanie."

Maalik added the drip with the Glukokortikosteroids to the saline solution. Gibbs tucked Nadia in again and kissed her forehead. "Sleep now Sweetheart. You've had an exciting day."

While Nadia slowly fell asleep Gibbs called McGee, Ziva and Tony.

**DC General Hospital Fourth floor Pediatric Wing Room 545 thirty minutes later**

"How is she doing?" Tony asked as he entered the room. He had to take Goliath to Ducky before he could come. Dogs weren't allowed in the hospital.

"Abbs. You look through the house and search for evidence and McGee….. How the hell could he get into the house while you were still there?" Gibbs growled glaring at the young agent.

"I…. I don't know. I just let out the pup for a few minutes for a leak….. I was close to the house. He must have sneaked in while I was outside. It was the only time the alarm was shut off."

"You were with a killer in Gibbs' house at the same time?" Tony asked disbelieving. "Where are your instincts, you McGut?

McGee hated when Tony did that, he still treated him like an idiot sometimes, especially when Tim was feeling guilty or incompetent. It made him mad; he had instincts he just wasn't as experienced at interpreting them yet. He pursed his lips and continued, trying to recount the all important minutes, "Hell, I don't know what happened. I was watching the pup….. It was only for a few minutes….. I didn't know….. Wait, Instincts…., Goliath acted strangely for a few minutes he wanted to go into Nadia's room and he was barking the whole time. And…."

"Okay. I've heard enough. This killer is a professional willing to murder a four year old, you were lucky that he didn't shoot you." Gibbs cut him off. "Go help Abby collect evidence from the house. Tony, Ziva go back to the NCIS and call Fornell. He should send an agent here to guard Nadia. We need some reinforcements. Then you can go through the rest of the files they've sent us."

"Yes, boss." They chorused, turned around and quickly went out of the room. Gibbs looked down at the sleeping child, _Who is after you Nadia? Is it really an agent of another militia army from Congo? Or is it someone else? You're pocket full of stars has been a death trap for many I think. Not for you; Over my dead body, not for you._

**Somewhere in Washington DC**

"Finally!" The man whispered and looked at the house. He had found Abdulla's hideout. He would soon attack. Maalik had the nightshift and wouldn't interfere; besides his boss didn't have any interest in having the doctor killed. He didn't want more dead than necessary. Now he only had to hire a man who could kill this girl. He frowned when he thought back to the evening. Everything had gone so smoothly and then this grey-haired man had stayed for such a long time in the room. It had ruined everything. He had thought that he would tuck her down and then leave the room. He hadn't thought that this guy cared that much for the girl.

He gritted his teeth. This was the first time that he had needed help since starting his career. It hurt his pride that he hadn't managed to do it all by himself. He looked down on the paper they had sent to him. Three men… all of them had killed in their life and now they sold their abilities to people who needed them. He looked at the picture of a suntanned man. His name was Kraig King. This man had done the most jobs. He would choose him. He took out one of his disposable cell phones and dialed the number.

"Hello?" A hoarse voice answered.

"I need you for a job. Payment $500'000 dollars. Kill the girl, DC General Pediatric wing, room 545 tomorrow evening. The weapon you'll use is in a bag under the bridge of Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway Northwest. You'll find $100'000 dollar as front money. The rest of the payment will be in the same place once you finish the job."

"Who are you?" Kraig asked.

The killer snorted amused. This guy was still a beginner compared to him. "You don't have to know my name. Just do your job."

Kraig paused, "Okay."

"Good." He ended the call. He started his car and drove out of the Anacostia Park. He parked the car close to the river and got out of it. He went over to the river, took out his cell phone out of his pocket and threw it far into the river. Then he went back to the car and took out a jerry can out of the trunk. He opened all the doors of the car and soaked the seats with the liquid. He smiled as he smelled the gas. This would destroy all the evidence. He took out a plastic lighter, lit it and tossed it into the car.

The flames lit up the empty car park and for a second you were able to see the man's smiling face. The flames reflected in his cold, blue eyes.

_One more day, only one more day and then he would be finished._

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TBC. Please review!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**The Bestest Girl in the world**

As Nadia woke up in the morning her throat was hurting a bit and the worst there was no sign of the promised ice-cream. Gibbs was sitting sound asleep on a chair next to her bed. All of sudden she looked down; a confused expression came to her face as she pondered how her pajama's had changed color while she was asleep. She was sure she had gone to sleep wearing her own pink pajamas; now she was wearing a pale blue pair. "GIBBS!" She yelled.

He nearly fell off the chair as he jolted up. In the next second Gibbs was at her side. "Is something wrong Nadia?" He asked worried.

"Yes, my pajama's changed color; they're blue now and my throat hurts a little and I want the ice-cream Mally promised me. I never had ice-cream for breakfast." She pouted.

Gibbs let out a sigh, relieved nothing major was wrong. "Doctor Maalik cleaned your throat this night Nadia, he said it could sting a little in the morning, but it will stop during the day. And your pink pajamas are being washed right now; Abby and I changed you last night. You slept during the whole procedure." He added with a smirk.

"But, what about my ice-cream? Maalik promised it!"

"You'll get your ice-cream Little One." He declared, affectionately tapping her on the nose.

The door swung open and an elderly nurse burst in, "I'm here to bath the girl." She said. "I'll go and prepare it," She stated clinically, disappearing into the bathroom before Gibbs or Nadia could reply.

"I need to get some coffee, Nadia. I'll soon be back. Be good for the nurse." Gibbs said, straightening and stretching his back.

"But I don't wanna bath." Nadia protested.

"Nadia. Maalik told me that you needed a bath. It's just to make sure that you won't get sick again; to make sure all the peanut powder is gone," explained Gibbs.

"But…."

"No, Nadia stop," he held up his finger, "You will take that bath and you will be nice to the nurse, understood?"

Nadia pouted and shook her head. Scowling she slid down and brought the sheet up over her head so she didn't have to look at Gibbs' stern face.

"Nadia!" Gibbs warned his voice lightly deeper now. He sat down on her bed and pulled the sheet back from her face. He sat her up and put two fingers under her chin. "If you aren't nice, I will tell Maalik that you are not allowed to have any ice-cream."

Nadia's eyes went wide. "Please don't do that. I'll be really, really, really good. I'll be the bestest girl in the world."

Gibbs had to chuckle at her animated reassurances. "Sure you are." He bent down and kissed her nose triggering another giggle.

"I'll be back in a minute." He assured her and went out of the room leaving the little girl alone with the bossy elderly nurse.

Nadia looked around. She really didn't want to take a bath, but she also wanted ice-cream for breakfast and Gibbs had said that she only could have ice-cream if she took a bath. The nurse came out of the bathroom and marched to the bed.

"Come now." She ordered and took Nadia by the hand. "Hmmm. First I have to take out the needle. The doctor said you wouldn't need it anymore." She pressed a finger against Nadia's hand and drew the needle out. Nadia yelped of the sudden pain and tried to drag her hand away.

"Stop it! You only hurt yourself!" The uncaring nurse ordered.

"Lemme go! I don't like you. I want Gibbs." Nadia demanded and struggled to get out of the woman's grip.

"Stop it you annoying child!" The nurse tried to lift her up. Nadia bit her hard on the hand. The woman screeched and jumped back. Nadia used the opportunity to jump out of the bed and run for the door.

"You little brat!" The nurse yelled.

Nadia reached up for the doorknob and ran out into the corridor.

Gibbs carried two large cups of coffee in each hand. It had been a rough night. He had just excited the elevated when he yielded a gurney that was being pushed by a male nurse, trying to avoid a little girl running past him. It was Nadia!

"What the…. NADIA STOP RIGHT THERE!" He bellowed.

Nadia didn't listen or she hadn't heard him. She dived to the ground and slid on her pajama-clad knee under another gurney that shot out of a room to the side.

Before he knew it, a panting nurse was standing at his side. "This child is horrible. She bit me." She snarled angrily and looked to Gibbs, blaming him for Nadia's behavior.

"Hold this and be quiet." Gibbs ordered. Thrusting the two coffee cups into her hands, he went after the child who had now just rounded another corner.

Nadia ran as fast as she could. She didn't like the nurse and she didn't like the hospital. She just wanted to get away.

"NADIA! STOP!" Gibbs ordered behind her. She tried to run faster, but Gibbs caught quickly up to her.

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" She yelled, looking behind to see how close he was. Suddenly a food trolley came out of a room. Nadia dodged and managed to miss it, but Gibbs didn't. He crashed into it spilling food everywhere. Nadia stopped and looked back. Gibbs was lying on the ground and the breakfast trays with their half eaten portions were spread all over the floor and Gibbs. She quickly scanned the ground for any signs off her ice-cream but she didn't detect any. She sighed with relief, then turned to run again.

"You better stop right there, young lady." Gibbs growled as he tried to stand up.

Frightened, Nadia pulled up immediately and turned back to face Gibbs. She stepped back, then seeing his angry scowl, turned and ran to continue her escape. Swearing Gibbs tried to stand up but slipped in a coffee-puddle. When he caught her she was going to be one sorry little girl.

Nadia rounded a corner and bumped into a pair of legs. Roughly she fell to the seat of her trousers and let out a small yelp, though more of surprise than of pain. Two strong arms picked her up and she looked up into a man's face. It was Tony.

"Hey, slow down a little. What are you doing out here?"

Nadia recognized him; He was one of the nice friends of Abby. She felt safe in the man's arms. "Lemme go. Gibbs is chasing me." She demanded but didn't squirm.

Tony chuckled. "You shouldn't run away from such an old man, Nadia. He'll probably have a heart attack making him run that much." Tony transferred the child to his hip and clutched her safely with one arm. He was excitingly waiting for the appearance of an out of shape Gibbs to appear, flustered and…. Oh no it was better than he thought, covered in food. Tony couldn't take his eyes off the piece of reconstituted egg that hung off his boss's unshaven cheek.

"Hello Tony!" A deep voice growled.

The agent looked away, quickly removing the smirk, "Ah….. uhm….. Hi boss. I just told Nadia here that she isn't supposed to run away and….. Anyway what happened to you boss?" He asked looking up and down at his Gibbs's clothes.

Gibbs didn't answer. Instead he slapped Tony on the back of his head and turned around. "Follow me!"

Nadia giggled as she saw Tony flinch when Gibbs hand connected with his head.

"Hey, no gloating!" Tony gave her a playful swat on the behind.

"OW! Meanie!" Nadia smacked him twice at the back of the head.

"Hey! Stop that!" Tony swatted her again.

"No, you started!" She smacked him again.

"You hit me one more time!" Swat!

"Owie! You hit harder!" Smack!

"I did not!" Swat!

"Did too!" Smack!

"Did not!" Swat!

"Did too!" Smack!

All of sudden someone slapped Tony on the back of his head and another hand connected with Nadia's behind.

"OW!" They chorused.

"Stop fighting!" Gibbs growled and took Nadia out of Tony's arms heading back for her room. Nadia immediately realised how really peeved he was.

"I'm sorry Huggaroo." She whispered and started to give him soft butterfly kisses on the cheek, hoping to appease him and soften him up. "I'm really, really sorry Gibbs. It was his entire fault." She whispered into his ear and pointed towards Tony. "He hit my bum." She added and poked her tongue out at Tony.

"Stop that Nadia or I'll put you across my knee once Gibbs is done with you." Tony admonished. Intimidated Nadia hid her face against Gibbs shoulder.

Gibbs didn't say anything. Right now he was trying to control his temper. As he passed the nurse he threw her an angry glare. She must have scared Nadia. "Here's your coffee." She snarled and handed it to a confused Tony.

"Can I bath the brat now?"

"No. You won't touch her. I'm gonna bath her and you can send the nurse who washed out her nose to help."

"You mean Claire?"

"Yes." Gibbs continued on his way without looking back. Tony stayed close behind, that big old crouchy nurse scared him too.

As Gibbs walked back into Nadia's room, he sat down on the bed and placed the four year old in front of him.

"Didn't I tell you to be good?" He asked firmly.

"I was, but she wasn't. She hurt me. Look." She showed him her hand. A small drop of blood was on the back of her hand where the intravenous needle had been.

"Did she draw out the needle?"

Nadia nodded but was skeptical about her ability to convince Gibbs of the seriousness of her wound.

"That was necessary Nadia. And while I think she was very unfriendly and maybe a little rough, you know you're not supposed to run away. Do you remember what happened when we were shopping and you sneaked away?"

Nadia's eyes went wide. "No, no spanking. I was good. The old woman was mean. She called me names and hurt me and she wanted to drag me to the bathroom. She's a meanie! Please, please, please, no spanking. I will be really good, I…."

"Shhh, shhh, Nadia, calm down." Gibbs soothed the anxious child. He picked her up and sat her down on his lap. "But running away is still not right and biting someone is very naughty."

Nadia ashamed examined her hands.

"Look at me Nadia." Gibbs put two fingers under her chin and forced her to look up. "What you did was wrong, and I understand why, but you caused a lot of trouble. You could have been hurt and…"

"And so could you. Tony said you are too old to chase me and you could have had a heart attack and… and people die when they have heart attacks. I'm sooowwyyyy!" Nadia burst into a fresh round of tears.

Gibbs gave Tony a sly look, "Get me some fresh coffee, wonder boy!" he sneered.

Tony jumped and took off, thinking, "_Yeah the kids cute, but it's her butt that should be on the line not mine."_

When the door closed Gibbs turned back to Nadia, who had stopped crying. He turned her over his knee and smacked her bottom twice causing her to yelp and squirm, then he picked her up and took her to the corner, "That's it; two swats and a time-out little lady."

"But I don't wanna go in time-out." She whined, rubbing her bottom she turned back to Gibbs.

"Well you have to." Gibbs turned her back around and gave her a gentle nudge towards the corner.

"But Gibbs….."

"No, Nadia! It's not up for discussion, unless you want to go over my knee for a good spanking, now the corner and stay there for five minutes."

"Okay, but only cause spankings are no good at all." She said in a small voice and sniffling she put her nose in the corner.

Gibbs watched her little nervously fidgeting figure. Nadia hated time-outs. She always felt ashamed and all she wanted was a hug and the reassurance that she was forgiven. Nervously she shifted her weight from foot to foot while she rubbed her behind trying to get some relief from the sting Gibbs' hand had left. It seemed to take forever, but finally Gibbs called her out and she ran with raised arms over to him. He picked her up and placed her on his lap. Nadia hid her face in his chest and hugged him tightly while Gibbs gently rocked her from side to side whispering comforting words to her.

"Come. Let's get you into the bath." He stood up and headed for the bathroom just as Claire entered the room.

"I heard your little rascal bit the hold hag Jennifer." She said chuckling.

Gibbs nodded.

"And I heard someone spread out the breakfast of our patients in the floor. I think you were involved in that case Mister Gibbs." She asked smiling while she surveyed his clothes.

"Yes, I tried to catch this little runaway." He replied with a smile readjusting Nadia to a more comfortable position in his arms.

"I'll take her."

"Okay." Gibbs sat Nadia down to the ground again. "Be good for Claire, Nadia. I'll need to get some fresh clothes, but I'll back. I promise." He stretched and straightened his back then limped out of the room.

Tony met him on his way back from the cafeteria, fresh coffee in hand. Gibbs grabbed it as he passed, "Your on watch DiNozzo. Don't let her out of your sight. Watch your back."He yelled as he exited the building.

"Sure thing Boss," he called, then thought_, "She sure has the bestest head slap for a four year old."_

_**Meanwhile…**__.._

"David? Can I swap the nightshift with you? My niece is in town tomorrow and I would like to catch up with her." Maalik lied. He didn't like to lie, it played on his conscience especially to one of his best friends, no matter how petty it seemed. But he wanted to be in the hospital while Nadia was here. He suspected her anaphylactic episode was not the last attempt to kill her. And the fact that Adan was not there was another reason to be concerned. He would have never left Nadia. Maalik's instincts told him that not only must Adan be in trouble but his little girl was still in danger.

He hadn't recognized her first; it had been a long time since he had seen her. Six months if he remembered right.

**Flashback**

Adan had asked him to be his best man. When Maalik first had met Adan he had thought that he was coming after him to kill him, but instead he had hugged him and declared that he would leave the CNDP as soon as he had finished one last thing for them. He had found his true love and was tired of the war.

So now he was standing at the right side of the Altar watching Nadia nervously clinging to her mom. There were around thirty people in the church. The most were from Adan's family. He had paid for a flight to the USA. Marie's parents had come. They were all the family she had. Two close friends stood next to them.

Maalik looked back to the entrance of the church and saw Marie give Nadia a gentle nudge to start the march up the isle towards their new life. Nadia was the Flower Girl. She looked so cute in her white taffeta dress as she scattered the ground with rose petals. The child looked back to Marie for reassurance that she was allowed to spread the scented flowers. Nadia's mom laughed nervously and nodded. A broad smile crossed Nadia's face as she realized that she really **was** allowed to make a mess. She walked towards the Altar spreading the rose petals as evenly as possible, but as she reached the front she realized she still had some left. Looking around she shrugged and tipped the basket upside down making a small heap of rose petals on front of the steps before the feet of the priest that stood quietly waiting.

All the guests started to laugh at the innocence of the scene. Nadia looked up at the Father, worried she had done something wrong, but she soon realized that everyone was laughing. She smiled at her audience, then blushed and quickly ran over to Adan hugging his leg.

Chuckling he stroked her head and bent down to her. "You made a good job Sweetie." He whispered into her ear causing Nadia to beam with pride.

"Really?" She asked.

"Yep. The best. Now go over to Maalik and stay with him okay. Mommy and I will soon be finished."

Nadia nodded and headed over to Maalik. She stopped in front of him and looked up at him with open mouth. "You are a big, big, big man." She said in awe. "You must surely see everything from up there. I can't see anything." She grumbled and kicked the floor, then her face lit up again. "Can I ride on your shoulders?"

It was impossible for him to say no.. "Okay." He picked her up and sat her on his shoulder causing her to squeal with delight.

"Hush little one. It's a game. Those who can stay quiet the longest get the biggest piece of the wedding cake." Maalik whispered to her.

"Really?" She whispered back.

"Yes, really; the biggest."

Nadia shut her mouth eager to win the game the nice giant man had just explained to her. The child wriggled on his shoulders occasionally as they watched and listened to the formalities of the wedding ceremony. Maalik needed to concentrate; after all he was the best man and needed to be ready to step forward on cue to supply the rings. Little did he know at the time but the small child that gripped him tightly under the chin was waiting for hers.

Nadia had seen the little mermaid get married to the prince and was convinced it should have been her to pass the rings to her parents. But Adan was concerned the three and a half year old would lose them. He explained that Maalik, the Best Man would hold onto them until Father Flynn asked for them. She had not been satisfied with the secondary role and insisted that the Bestest Flower Girl should have something important to do. Marie and Adan had laughed, explaining that she did already have an important role. Marie had decided that she did not want her father giving her away and that Nadia, by paving the Isle with flowers was not only making her mommy look special but was accepting Adan as her daddy and giving her mommy to him to be his wife. Well that was an important job and Nadia concentrated hard on what the priest was saying ready for her encore performance.

"Who gives this woman away?" asked the Priest.

"I do!" Nadia shouted at the top of her lungs, and nearly toppled over Maalik's head as she bounced high from his shoulders.

The congregation all laughed loudly this time. Father Flynn was first shocked at the child's performance thinking it was a unruly child antics. But, he quickly examined all faces and the child's innocent and sincere announcement. He walked over and held out his arms. Maalik understanding the gesture lifted Nadia off his shoulders and put her into the arms of the priest, who then carried her over to her parents and stood her in front of them. He lifted their hands and placed them together then sat them gently on their child's head. He smiled and continued.

All had been moved by the gesture and Maalik had to be cued twice when it came to presenting the rings. But he managed with a huge smile on his face and a warm spot in his heart.

Father Flynn soon announced the couple new titles and everlasting roles, "I declare you this day in front of all theses witness'…"

"And the Bestest Flower Girl!" added Nadia standing up on her toes to look taller.

"And the Bestest Flower Girl," inserted father Flynn, "with the blessing of our lord and your God to be now Man and Wife."

After the ceremony, the couple walked back down the aisles, this time as a family. They strolled to the guard of more petals as they swung their little girl a head of them ever three or four paces. Maalik had one last laugh as he reminisced. The entire evening at the wedding dinner had been spent in completion with Nadia as they fought it out. The Bestest Man and the Bestest Flower Girl fought it out for the title of the Bestest Biggest Cake Eater. Maalik couldn't believe a three year old could eat that much cake. Being a doctor, he suddenly felt guilty and feeling sorry for whoever was going to be caring for Nadia tonight; she was sure to end up with a worse stomach ache that would keep the babysitter up half the night. He proposed to leave his card, just in case there were problems, and then he swallowed another whole slice of cake, and sniggered in unison with the child that sat next to him.

**END FLASHBACK**

"Sure I can change with you Maalik." David replied.

"Thank you. I'll go home and take some rest then. See you later." Maalik said and headed for the changing rooms.

**TBC.**

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**Note: A huge thank to gaben who has helped me an enormous deal with this chapter. She wrote a part of the wedding. Thanks to her this chapter has gotten so good. THANK YOU GABEN!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Brother versus Brother**

"Abdulla!" Maalik yelled as soon as he had closed the door to his house. He heard footsteps coming down the stairs. As soon as Abdulla was downstairs Maalik grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and slammed him against the wall causing him to groan with pain.

"Where the hell is Adan?" He growled his face only inches away from his brother's.

"He's dead. He died as a martyr!" Abdulla massaged his shoulder, combined with Maalik's rough handling and his earlier wounds from the attempted assassination, he replied wreathing in pain. "Our people will celebrate him as a hero when I return with the weapons."

"He didn't want to be a hero. He wanted to get out. You know it. All he wanted was to live here with Marie and Nadia." Maalik had suspected something had gone terribly wrong when he first spotted Nadia in Hospital. He had recognized her and was somewhat relieved the child had not immediately recognized him. Though it would only be a matter of time, once the medication and the trauma of her allergic reaction subsided, the child was going to remember his connection. Maalik needed to figure out what was going on, Nadia was in danger and he was concerned his brother was responsible, maybe in more ways than one.

"No, you don't know him. He was…."

Maalik grabbed him by the throat. "You see people as you want to see them little brother. You've always been naïve. Nkunda has driven away over a quarter million people from their home. Do you really think they will accept that?" He eased his grip and allowed Abdulla to catch some air.

"They stole the land from the Tutsi. We only took revenge and brought justice to these people."

"You have no idea about justice. Revenge is never justified. It will only cause fear and sorrow, which will change into hatred, which will cause more revenge. It's a vicious circle. I recognized it and so did Adan. All he wanted was to leave you and live in peace with the woman and child he loved, but you forced him to take part in this suicide squad. Even after Marie had died you forced him to continue. You threatened to hurt Nadia otherwise he would have stopped a long time ago even if it had meant his death. Isn't it so?" Seething with anger Maalik pushed Abdulla, then slumped in despair realizing that Adan was truly dead. He turned his face away afraid that he would lose his temper and kill him.

Abdulla took a long breath then he growled, "He was a traitor just like you. I only spare you because you're my brother and you've helped me."

Maalik grabbed him enraged and dragged him close to his face. "Are the Tutsi the only ones you have taken revenge on? If you're not out of my house by tomorrow morning, I'm going to call the FBI and tell them everything. You're life may be in danger, but I don't care anymore"

A worried expression appeared on Abdulla's face. "You can't do that. You're…. you're my brother. The man who killed Adan is still after me."

Maalik uttered a brief laugh. "You've lost the right to be my brother a long time ago Abdulla. I see that now. Your diamond smuggling has got Adan killed, and you couldn't care less. Is that why they are after you now? This is where your revenge has got you; you don't even know whose side you are on. Well, tomorrow morning you're out of my house." He let the younger man go and went up to his room to try and get some sleep. He wasn't concerned that Abdulla would kill him. He knew he wouldn't do that. He had helped him and Abdulla owed him. Maalik was safe…. for now.

**Meanwhile at the hospital**

Claire led out a freshly bathed Nadia of the bathroom. As soon as she was outside she ran over to Tony and raised her arms in his direction. He picked her up and threw a quick glance towards Claire. She was pretty.

Nadia gained his attention again by giving him a wet kiss to the cheek. "Will Abby come and visit me?"

"Maybe later. She has a lot to do."

"If she can't, I can visit her. It's boring here anyway." Nadia complained and pouted.

"It won't be boring for long. I'll bring you some ice-cream for breakfast just as doctor Maalik has promised you." Claire said.

She was interrupted by Nadia's cheering, "Yayyy, I like doctor Maalik, he's my friend."

Tony looked at the pretty young nurse and quickly put a hand up to cover Nadia's mouth.

"Can I bring something for you too Mister….." Claire looked towards Tony who had transferred Nadia to his other arm.

"DiNozzo. Anthony DiNozzo, but everyone calls me Tony and I'd just like a coffee please. I've already eaten breakfast."

"Okay." She said and went out of the room.

Nadia looked angrily down on the hand which was still covering her mouth. She opened it and was just about to bite him when she remembered what Gibbs had said and she also very well remembered the sting his hand had left on her backside. She closed her mouth again and thought of what she could do to make Tony take his hand away.

"Very pretty." He mumbled, then he suddenly felt something wet against his hand. NADIA WAS LICKING HIM! He quickly withdrew his hand and wiped the spittle of his hand on her pajama top.

"Eww! You taste yuckie!" She scrubbed her tongue with the sleeve of her pajama.

"Serves you right. You don't lick people." Tony scolded.

"Why?" Nadia asked and looked up at him.

"Um….. That's just not done!"

"Why?"

"Are you teasing me?" Tony asked frowning at her.

Nadia giggled and shook her head.

"No? Are you sure about that?" Tony frowned exaggerated.

"Yes." Nadia squeaked quickly catching up the hint of the game. Tony tipped her upside down causing her to squeal with delight and tickled her now exposed tummy. Nadia laughed and tried to slap his hand away.

"Stop….. stop iiiiiiit!" She managed to squeal between her giggles. Tony carefully laid her down on the bed, just as Claire entered the room.

"Here's your ice-cream Nadia."

"YAY! ICE-CREAM FOR BREAKFAST!" The girl cheered and reached with both hands out for the bowl.

Claire handed Tony his coffee.

"Thank you." Tony sat down on the chair in the room and watched Nadia eating, rather gorging into her ice-cream. As she finished she looked sadly on the empty bowl, then her face lit up again. She picked the bowl up and started to lick it clean.

"Oh no, you don't! I've just bathed you. If you do it like that, you'll get ice-cream in your hair." Claire admonished and quickly snatched the bowl away from the child. Nadia crossed her arms and glared at Claire, who unmoved, picked up a wet towel from the food trolley and wiped the little girls face clean despite Nadia's noisy protests.

"Now, you're pretty again." Claire stated smiling and tussled Nadia's hair. The little girl wasn't pleased at all. There had been some melted chocolate ice in that bowl. Still pouting she looked away. Claire sighed and scraped together the last of the ice-cream.

"Open wide." She held the full spoon in front of Nadia's mouth. Greedily Nadia slurped the rest of the ice-cream then she sank down in the bed with a satisfied smile.

"See you later, and no more sulking." Claire teased and went out of the room, leaving Tony alone with the four year old.

"Why do I have to stay here?" Nadia asked looking over at Tony, sipping on his coffee.

"The doctor said so." He replied.

"Hmmmpft. Not fair."

Tony drank out the last of his coffee before he headed over to the bead and sat down next to Nadia who crawled up on his lap. As soon as she had made herself comfortable on his lap, she put her thumb into her mouth and fell asleep. Tony kicked of his shoes and lay down on the bed putting the child next to him. As he looked up at the ceiling he spotted the small TV above the bed. It was fixed to a flexible base.

"Hey Nadia!" He whispered into her ear. Dozily she opened her eyes. "Wanna watch some cartoons?"

Her eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly. "But where's the TV?"

Tony sat up, moved the TV in front of them and leaned back against the head of the bead. Nadia sat next to him and snuggled tightly to him.

"I'll take that as a yes, okay which cartoon do you want to start with?" Tony asked with a broad grin. He was getting paid to watch cartoons with a four year old. This was the best job in the world.

**NCIS headquarters**

"GIBBS! MCGEE FOUND A FINGERPRINT!" Abby spun and yelled as soon as Gibbs entered her lab.

"Good. Who does it belong to?"

"We don't know." Abby grunted as her smile disappeared.

"Go back to work then."

"You really are a slave driver." Abby muttered as Gibbs left her lab again. He headed for the lift and pressed the button for the bullpen.

"McGee!" He barked as he entered the room.

The young agent jumped. "I'm going through everything boss. Right now I'm going through the data from every country that has connections with the Congo."

"Good. Ziva you'll take the nightshift in the hospital. I'll be inside the room with Nadia and you'll be replaced at 0200."

"Good. Gibbs? I think I've found something interesting."

Gibbs went over to her desk and waited impatiently while Ziva retrieved paper from the messy pile on her desk, then stood up facing Gibbs, "According to the FBI Abdulla has a brother but he left the CNDP many years ago. The exact date is not known. His name is Maalik Kutesa, but there's a problem: there are three Maalik Kutesa's in America. One works here in Washington DC as a doctor, another works as a sales clerk in Las Vegas and the last one works for an oil company in Miami. It could be all of them or none. The name Kutesa is common in Africa. The FBI investigated about all of them but didn't find any evidence that one of them could be this Abdulla Kutesa's brother."

"Good work." He headed over for his desk intending to finally go through the papers Fornell had sent them. He paused at the corner, then instantly threw his drawer open, grabbed his badge and P228. "Ziva, McGee grab your weapons your with me!" He barked as he rounded his desk and headed for the elevator, not even bothering to check to see if they had followed.

**Somewhere in Washington DC**

A man sat in a coffee shop sipping on a strong espresso. Suddenly his mobile phone rang.

"_Kraig."_

"Talk details!"

"_The doctors will pass the room 545 between 23:30 or 23:45. You will strike at 12:10. The backdoor will be open. Take the stairs up. There will be one security guard outside and one inside. Shoot them and then kill the girl."_

Kraig stared at the phone as he snapped it shut. His client had everything planned. All he needed to do was shoot the girl and the security men.

Meanwhile across the river, a pale man who was wearing sunglasses stepped out on the Arlington Memorial Bridge. He took out a mobile phone off his pocked and looked down the river. Tomorrow he would be finished. He threw the phone into the river not caring who was watching or their stunned expressions. Whistling a melody he continued his way towards Abdulla's hideout. He had plenty of time. Kraig would deal with the girl while he would kill Abdulla.

**DC General Hospital fourth floor Pediatric Wing Room 545 Lunchtime**

Nadia was fast asleep on Tony's lap. After the fourth cartoon she had started to yawn and in the middle of the fifth she had fallen asleep next to Tony. He shut off the TV and carefully stood up again. Nadia whimpered in her sleep and he carefully tucked in the blanket. "_A really cute kid."_ He thought smiling. Nadia put her thumb into her mouth and continued to sleep.

Gibbs entered the room. Relief filled his body when he saw Tony and a very content and sleeping Nadia. Tony read his expression, "Boss? What's up?"

"Maalik, has that Doctor Maalik been in here?"

"No why?"

"Abdulla Kutesa has a brother called Maalik, there is one here in the DC General Hospital. He works here as a doctor."

"Could be a co-incidence, Boss."

"No such thing, DiNozzo."

"I mean this doctor may not be related. Did you get anything from the FBI files?"

"Most of it was trash, just background information of the CNDP and a lot of other information about some different people who had worked for them."

"So, this Maalik guy may not even work for them."

"Maybe. Tim and Ziva are checking the doctors' records. He is supposed be off duty. But I'd feel better if you went for a look around. Pick up Ziva and take her with you; she's at the nurses' station, but tell her she has the nightshift from 2100."

"On it."

Gibbs looked at the petite child in the bed. He told himself to relax, stay alert but relax; this doctor if he was related has had plenty of opportunity to have done something. He may not be related, that made sense, but his gut was trying to tell him something else, he just didn't know what.

Nadia opened her eyes, yawning. She blinked and smiled as soon as her focus revealed her Grey haired protector, "GIBBS!" She stood up and bounced on the bed reaching out for him. Chuckling he headed over to the bed and picked her up. She kissed him on the nose and clung tightly to him.

"How long will you stay?" She asked and looked up at him.

Not wanting to project his concerns, Gibbs smiled, "I'll just stay for one or two hours, I have to get some sleep too, you know, but I will stay in your room during the night. Though I have some work to do before I can stay with you."

"I wanna come with you." She pleaded and grabbed him tighter.

"That's not possible Sweetheart. The doctor said you have to stay here until tomorrow in case you get sick again."

"But…."

"No, buts, Little One." He tapped her on the nose and sat down on the bed. Nadia pouted, but snuggled tightly to him.

"Can you read me a story before you go?"

"Hmmm?" he mused, his attention grabbed by McGee walking into the room.

He walked through the door, just as Nadia decided to sing her request clearer and louder, "Can you read me a stoooorrrrry?"

Gibbs sighed. "Course I can. McGee?

"Dr Maalik is not recorded as on duty, Boss. I've put in a request for a warrant to review his personal files. You want a BOLO on him?"

"No not yet, hey, watch her, while I look for a book."

"Uh, Oh Yes."

Gibbs stopped at the door and gave the security officer instructions, "Nobody goes in here except my team. One of my agents will replace you at 2100 hours."

"Yes sir!" The female security guard responded.

Nadia wriggled around in the bed, impatiently waiting for Gibbs to return. When he didn't show up after a minute, she turned her attention back to McGee, "Hey you're the other Tony, how's my Goliath?

"The other Tony?"

"Yah, where's Goliath, my puppy, did you bring him in to visit me?"

"No, he's not allowed in here and my names Tim."

"Oh Hi Tim, can we play blind man's bluff?" She looked pleadingly up at him.

"Uhm… don't you want to….."

"Please?" Nadia begged.

McGee sighed, "Okay."

"YAY! You start!" She looked around for something with which she could cover Tim's eyes. He went to breathe a sigh of relief when it looked like she couldn't improvise a blindfold. But it was short lived as she went into the bathroom then came out holding up a towel triumphantly.

Tim crouched down and let her tie the towel around his head. As she was finished she circled him and stood in front of him.

"Do you see something?" She asked.

"No, I don't."

"Are you sure?" Suddenly someone flicked him on the nose and ran away giggling.

"Hey! That was not fair." Tim growled in mock anger. That only caused Nadia to giggle louder. He stood up and went in direction of the noise.

As Gibbs entered the room again he was met by a strange view. His junior agent had a towel tied around his head and was chasing a hysterically giggling four year old. As Nadia spotted Gibbs she stopped and looked over to him.

"GIBBS!" She yelled. A second later Tim had his arms wrapped around her.

"Gotcha!"

"Awww. No fair. Gibbs tricked me."

Tim picked her up and tucked her under one arm while he took away the towel with his free hand.

"Lemme go!" She demanded laughing and kicked her legs. As soon Tim had untied the towel he gave Nadia a gentle flick with it to her backside.

"Now we're even." He sat her down on the ground again.

"Doing your job McGee?" Gibbs glared at him.

"Just distracting Boss. You know I've had experience with little sisters. Uh, sorry, Boss."

Nadia jumped up tugging on Gibbs sleeve, "Do you read me a story now?" Nadia begged giving him her best puppy eyes.

"Yes."

"YAY! What kind of story?"

"Snow White."He picked her up and sat down on the chair placing the four year old on his lap.

"Goodeee, and the seven dwarfs? My favorites Dopey."

"Mine too, but the seven dwarfs are off to work." Gibbs cued Tim with the cryptic comment, "Dopey here's gotta go find Doc."

Tim picked up the reference though was somewhat affronted at the suggestion feeling a little game with a child sitting in the arms of Gibbs swinging hand, he shuffled backwards towards the door, "Sure Nadia, that's right, now you take care of Grumpy, I'll go find the others." He quickly turned and ran out the door.

Nadia frowned and asked, "Huh is Grumpy here?"

Gibbs coughed, "Okay you listening or what? Once upon a time…."

**Midnight DC General Hospital**

Kraig opened the backdoor from the hospital and looked inside. He couldn't see anyone. He checked his Ruger and its silencer once more, assuring himself that everything was alright, and then tucked it away out of sight into the back of his dark pants. Silently he entered the hospital and went down the corridor looking for the stairs. Once finding them he quietly climbed them, feeling the adrenaline build up in his system.

He enjoyed every second; the best part of his job was the sneaking up. It was like hunting an intelligent animal. If he made one mistake he would be as good as dead. A smile crossed his face.

He made to the fifth floor, quickly surveying the area then around the corner. He spotted a woman sitting on a chair outside the ward door. She was the only one there. She had to be one of the guards. He activated the laser pointer and shielded it with his finger. He looked around the corner again. She didn't see him. He took his finger away from the pointer and let the red point slowly wander up to the woman's throat and pulled the trigger.

**Room 544 00:05**

Maalik wanted to check his high dependency patients. He had not clocked on as yet, but the nurse at the station had nodded her approval as he headed on his rounds. Mrs. Van Cleave was the last on his list. She had had heart transplantation and he surveyed her meds chart and added further care instructions ready for the staff change over. He was pleased the old lady was stable. He let out a relieved sigh, then stood up and left the room.

It took a second for his mind to register the significance of another woman, lying motionless in a pool of blood on the floor. A man with a gun was standing at the door to room 545 but turned quickly as he heard the movement of Maalik to his right. He stared in shock at the doctor. Then he raised his gun in one swift motion and pulled the trigger. Maalik's body reacted before his mind; his reflexes had him automatically ducking before the man shots could hit its intended target. Maalik grabbed the murder's wrist.

Kraig reached inside his clothes and took out a knife. Grunting the man tried to stab Maalik in the throat. He dodged the jab with his forearm. Maalik growled of the pain as the knife cut across his arm making a deep gash. Maalik twisted the man's wrist causing him to drop the gun, and then he drew his head back and knocked his forehead hard against the man's nose. It broke with a snapping noise. The man whimpered and tried to stab him again. Maalik dodged the blow and pushed Kraig back against the wall.

Gibbs heard the disturbance and immediately placed Nadia on the bed.

"Gibbs !" she cried.

"NADIA; STAY THERE!" He ordered, then pulled his weapon out and swung the door open, sticking close to its frame. He could see the tall doctor fighting with a man to the right of him and looked down at Ziva. She lay with closed eyes in a puddle of blood and didn't move. Calmly and slowly, he knelt down not taking his eyes at the fighting pair and felt for a pulse. There it was; it was barely noticeable, but it meant she was alive. He raised his weapon, "FREEZE!" He yelled.

Maalik did not respond, enraged and oblivious to Gibbs presences he hit the man hard in the stomach causing him to double over with pain, then he put his hand against the man's face and slammed his head against the wall. The man's legs jerked one more time then the body went limp. Maalik dropped the body and turned to Gibbs, he froze at the sight of the gun pointed at him. As he went to explain, he felt the rush of air as Tony and Tim came from behind through the wards swinging doors. He turned raising his hands in the air, as the three agents now surrounding him trained their weapons sights on him.

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**TBC.**

**It took me some time to write this chapter and a great thank to gaben for her patience and help. She helped me a great deal to sort out a lot of mistakes. Oh I nearly forgot: Reviews makes me write quicker, so please review.**


	10. Chapter 10

**IMPORTANT NOTE: I own gaben a great thank for this chapter. She has worked really hard on this and corrected many, many mistakes and given me many suggestions to help me through the story without messing things up. THANK YOU GABEN! After you read this story you should check out her profile. All of her stories are GREAT! Okay now that everything is said you can start read**

**(Don't forget to review, though they make write quicker and better)**

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**The Friendly Giant**

"Gibbs? Is Ziva….." Tony didn't dare to say the last word. He kept his gun aimed at the large giant of a man who stood still with both hands raised up in the air.

"She's alive. McGee, check him," ordered Gibbs, keeping his gun sights on Maalik and indicated the fallen intruder slumped at the doctor's feet.

Tim knelt down next to Kraig and felt for a pulse. "He's alive boss." He said as he felt the heartbeats pulsating from the man's neck.

"McGee, press the alarm in the next room. Ziva needs a doctor."

"Yes, boss." He quickly ran over to the room. "Where is it?"

"Red button; next to her bed!" Maalik advised, then turned to Gibbs as the alarm went off, "She will survive Mister Gibbs." Maalik said and wanted to take his hands down, but raised them again as Gibbs made an appellative movement with his gun. "There are no blood bubbles in the corners of her mouth that means her trachea isn't injured and if her carotid or vertebral artery had been hit the pool of blood would be much bigger and she would be much paler. The muscles in her neck may be severely damaged, but nothing more."

"Then why hasn't she woken up yet?" Tony snarled.

"Her body is in shock. She will wake up in a few hours."

"Gibbs? Can I come out now?" A little voice asked, heard from the small opening of the door.

"No, you stay right where you are!" Gibbs ordered firmly.

Nadia however had other intentions. Slowly she opened the door and peeked out as she spotted Maalik her face lit up. "MAALIK!" She yelled, ran to him and hugged his leg. "Can I ride on your shoulders like I did at Mommy's and Daddy's wedding? Please say yes." She begged and looked pleadingly up at him.

"Nadia! Get back here, NOW!" Gibbs admonished afraid the doctor might hurt her.

"No!" Nadia replied defiantly. "Mally is my friend. He's a nice giant. Not a bad one."

Maalik did not touch the child, which was scowling at Gibbs and clinging to Maalik's legs, "Mr. Gibbs, handcuff me if you want and then I'll explain everything." He held out his hands towards Tony, who quickly took out some handcuffs and put them around Maalik's wrists.

"Now, one of you compress your friends wound until the emergency team get here I will just sit here." Maalik said and sat down next to Kraig who still was unconscious.

McGee jumped at the suggestion and quickly returned with a towel from Nadia's' room. He bent down next to Ziva and placed the towel firmly on her neck.

Gibbs moved forward keeping his gun aimed while Tony also cuffed Kraig next to the Doctor. Nadia sat next to Maalik as he had dropped to the floor. He then holstered his weapon and grabbed Nadia, hoisting her easily into the air with one arm and tucked her under his arm. He moved back towards Nadia room where she would not be witness to Ziva's bleeding wounds.

"No Gibbs, let me go, don't hurt Maalik, please Gibbs."

"Nadia I'm not going to hurt anyone, just keep still and stay in your Bed." He put her down and ushered her through the door then closed it.

A doctor and three nurses came rushing through the door. They froze as they saw Maalik sitting handcuffed on the ground an unconscious man next to him and a bleeding woman on the ground.

"Maalik?" The doctor asked, "What….. what happened here?"

"I'll explain later Michael. Take care of the agent, there. He said pointing his cuffed hands to Ziva's slumped form. "She's wounded. Mrs. Van Cleave is okay, I'm okay. GO."

"But ,you…. You're bleeding." He stated.

"I KNOW, NOW HELP HER!" Maalik growled angrily, _what the hell was wrong with this man. A woman was badly hurt in front of his eyes and he didn't move a finger. _The three nurses however jumped into action. They went over to Ziva and knelt down next to her.

Maalik realized that his colleague still did not move, obviously shocked and mouth gapping like a fish on the dry. He looked over and started to bark commands, "Take her to room 543. It's free. She needs a serum transfusion and a blood transfusion. The wound also needs to be disinfected. Look for the exit wound and check to see if the bullet has damaged her cervical." He turned back to his friend, "Michael for God's sake MOVE!"

Gibbs went over to the man and slapped him on the back of the head. "You heard the man, MOVE!" He yelled. Michael paled and hurried into the room the nurses had carried Ziva. Gibbs knelt down next to Maalik.

"Let me take a look at your arm." He said gently. Maalik nodded and lifted his arm. "Where do I find some bandages?"

"Room 543 grey closet." Maalik replied. He started to feel the pain now as the adrenaline and the frenzy of the fight slowly subsided.

Gibbs went into the room and saw one of the nurses insert an infusion needle into Ziva's left arm, while Michael checked the wound. The young intern seemed to have regained control over himself, working quickly and confidently. Satisfied that Ziva was in good hands now, he went out to the corridor again and looked at doctor Maalik, before returning to the cupboard to retrieve the bandages. He went back to Maalik who was still sitting on the ground eyeing the unconscious man, who was then taken to another room by two newly arrived male orderlies.

Gibbs wrapped the bandage around Maalik's forearm. He didn't trust the doctor, but Maalik needed help. "Di Nozzo! Take him to the NCIS and get him to Ducky. This cut needs stitches."

"But Boss, Ziva?"

"Let the doctors do their Job, Tony. I'll call you later and tell you how Ziva is. Take the gun with you." Gibbs hooked up the gun lying on the floor next to Maalik and dropped it into a plastic bag then handed it to Tony, "Get this to Abby."

Meanwhile Tim led Maalik down to the lift. Gibbs looked over to the room 543. The doctor just stepped back from the bed revealing a sleeping Ziva. Michael hurried over to the next room and started to check the stranger. Gibbs followed, looking at the man's pale face, while the doctor listened to his labored chest. Gibbs took out his mobile phone and took a photo of the man's face, then sent Abby the picture together with the order to perform a face recognition and identity check.

"GIBBS!" Nadia yelled suddenly. He spun around and looked over to her. She was standing in the frame of the door holding her stuffed elephant tightly pressed against her chest and looked over to him. "Where's Mally?"

He ran over to her and crouched down in front of her. "Nothing's wrong Nadia, Tim's taken him to NCIS."

Nadia went to run off towards the double doors of the ward. Gibbs grabbed the back of her pajama top reeling her back in and scooping her up, he cradled her against his chest, "Hey. It's alright, he's alright. Settle down."

Nadia kicked and wriggled trying to get out of Gibbs grip, "No, let me go with him, he's my daddy's friend. He's my giant friend, Mally." _That be so little one he thought, but he may also be responsible for his death. Somehow though my gut tells me it's been unintentional, _He thought while struggling to calm the child, "Nadia enough!"

Nadia in full tantrum mode tried to pry Gibbs hands away from around her chest. When they didn't budge she dropped her head and bit the webbing between one of Gibbs thumbs.

"Arrhh…" Gibbs released one hand but the other arm held tight as he dropped to one knee and stood the child on her feet, spun her sideways and swatted her backside once. "Hey, No Biting! Now stop this!" he warned.

Nadia stopped immediately, tears forming in the wells of her eyes as she turned to Gibbs, "But he's my friend Gibbs, I..I..afraid for him."

"Okay, I know, I know." He cuddled her, then rubbed her back trying to calm her and stop the tears.

Doctor Michael came from the room and spotted the crying child. "Is your daughter okay?" He asked.

Gibbs nodded. "What about him?" He asked referring to the patient the doctor had just treated.

"Not good I'm afraid, he has a cranial fracture. They're sending up a crash cart, we need to get him to ICU."

"Okay, but my agent goes with you, I have some security sent up…. How is Ziva?" He asked after a break.

"Stable. She'll be alright. They will operate and sew the sinews together a surgeons coming up. The nurses are prepping her now."

"Thank you."

"I wanna go!" Nadia complained tugging on Gibbs sleeve.

"No, I think you need to get back into bed, aren't you tired? It's midnight!"

"No I wanna go with you."

"You can take your little girl home if you like; she is out of danger now. It may be best that she go with you." suggested Doctor Michael.

Frankly Gibbs was relieved at the suggestion, she would definitely be safer back at headquarters, "How's that Nadia, do you think you can stay awake long enough for a drive to NCIS to see Abby?"

"Uhh uhh, will Abby read me a story, bout all the dwarfs this time or maybe Jack And The Beanstalk, cept make the giant friendly like my Mally? Will I see Goliath and Mally?"

"Yep, yep and we'll see."

"Oh okay then, cause I'm not that tired yet."

She raised her arms towards him. He picked her up and she put her head in the crook of his neck cradling her stuffed elephant against her chest. A few seconds later she was fast asleep.

"Not tired yet, huh? You're a bad liar Nadia." Gibbs whispered into Nadia's ear and kissed her forehead. "Okay, all I need is to interrogate a friendly giant and a ton of coffee." He mumbled on his way to the parking lot.

**NCIS Headquarters**

Gibbs carefully lay Nadia down on a sofa in the conference room. She curled herself together to a little ball and put her thumb in her mouth. He fetched the blanket Abby had found before, tucked her in and assured himself twice that she really was warm enough, before he carefully closed the door and headed for the morgue where Ducky was still sewing up Maalik. This doctor had a lot of question to answer.

As he exited the elevator Tony came out of the room carrying a blood-soaked bandage.

"Hi, boss. Ducky's just finished."

"Good. Continue your research after you've bagged that and get it to Abby. See if it matches any samples from the crime scenes. ." Gibbs ordered and rubbed his eyes. He still hadn't got a coffee.

"Boss. Ziva?"

" She's fine, Tony. No major arteries were hit. They're sewing her up now. We'll know more about any muscle damage in a week or two."

Tony quietly nodded, and turned towards the elevator.

"Hey! Called Gibbs, viewing room one in five minutes agent, Di Nozzo."

"On It Boss!"

Maalik Kutesa was sitting on the chair while Ducky made the last stitch. The Afro-American was admiring Ducky's handwork. "Really quick and very neat, doctor." He praised.

"Thank you. You know normally my patients are dead, but I enjoy it to work with living people sometimes. They can give you an answer when you talk to them."

Maalik chuckled. "I wouldn't be so sure of that doctor. People just want a doctor's help and then they disappear again and they will never thank you for your work. Children are different, one time I had a little girl who had a strep throat. She didn't want to let me to do the test, wailed all the time and tried to bite me. In the end I managed to make the test and as I turned my back to her she put her pacifier in her mouth and went silent. When I returned with the result and gave the father the prescription the girl jumped down from the gurney, came to me all smiles and a mischievous glint in her eyes, thanked me and shook my hand. I swear she did all of it on purpose."

Ducky grinned. "Yes, I can also remember a similar case, when I worked….."

"Are you finished now Ducky?" Gibbs interrupted.

"Yes." Ducky collected his stuff and went out of the room.

Gibbs sat down on the other chair and looked at the doctor who leaned back in the chair and cracked his knuckles.

"Shall I start?" Maalik asked.

"Not yet, I like to tape this. Lets go."

Gibbs escorted Maalik to the elevators and headed to the interrogation rooms. Once there Gibbs, hit the controls to the video recording and sat on a chair opposite Maalik. Gibbs nodded, "Okay start."

"I guess, you've already figured out my past in the CNDP. I was a member there, even one of the leaders, but I left them. I saw what they did to the people. Since then they have wanted to kill me. Adan and his companions came to America to sell diamonds to buy weapons. They were American citizens and had joined the marines, but had still kept their ties with CNDP. They still sympathized with their families, their people and their needs. They thought it would be simple to take some weapons from the base. They worked here for several years, thinking that they were doing good; fighting the oppressors and getting help for those that were starving or ill-treated, wounded and left orphaned. But as they watched TV and saw what the CNDP did with the weapons they had given to them, they became disillusioned.

Adan was the first one who became skeptic and after he met Marie he wanted to leave the CNDP. He found me after months of research, but he didn't sell me out. Instead he came to me and asked me to be his best man and told me that he wanted to leave the CNDP after one last job.

We knew each other from earlier times, better times. We often played together as kids. I was startled of his offer, but of course I said yes. It was at their wedding I met Nadia," Maalik sighed and closed his eyes as the memories filled him.

"She was the cutest flower girl ever. We fought out the title for the best cake-eater; I would never have dreamed of that such a little girl can eat that much cake. However Adan wanted to leave and that's when Abdulla, my brother, showed up. He convinced him to make one last job for the CNDP and then he would be free to leave. Adan agreed, but from there on everything went wrong.

Someone sent out agents to kill all the diamond dealers. It all started in Italia, then it spread to the other countries where we had our contacts. Adan and his friends where the last from the CNDP who got killed, after them there weren't any left and now the agent wants to cover his tracks before he could leave the States….."

Maalik stopped and looked up at Gibbs. It was a calculating look as if he thought if he could trust Gibbs. Gibbs was still only watching him waiting for him to continue. Maalik knew it was time to make things right. And this man sitting in front of him, somehow knew it too. Maalik took a huge breath, "My brother Abdulla… He's in hiding at my house. I don't know how long he'll be safe there, but he'll leave tomorrow. I don't want to have anything to do with him anymore. Lock him away and perhaps he'll finally understand that war isn't the answer. The address is 3016 Ordway Street Northwest."

Suddenly Gibbs mobile phone rang, "Abbs?"

"_Gibbs the man which the doctor beat up was Kraig King. A professional killer. The FBI has been looking for him for 7 years."_

"Thanks Abbs. What about the sample of blood tony bought down to you? Any matches? "

"_You tell me Oh great one, what's your gut telling you?" _

"My gut tells me No matches, and maybe Jack tackled the wrong beanstalk."

"Oh right, well… I think, Gibbs have you had any coffee yet?"

"Nope, the blood Abbs?"

"_Oh yeah, No matches to any of the crime scenes. Only on the gun that belongs to Kraig. I believe what you have there Gibbs are the blood samples of a hero_."

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"You did? Oh yeah right; getting you some coffee right way."

Gibbs pressed the end-call button and glanced at the two way mirror. Tony smiled, then flipped his phone as it vibrated in his hand, "Abbs?"

"_Tony get Gibbs coffee fast, he's talking all hinky, about Jack And The Beanstalk." _

"On it Abbs." He laughed and recouped his attention to the window and the scene in the interrogation room.

Gibbs looked up at Maalik again, "Apparently the man you knocked out in the hospital is a hired killer. We owe you a thank you. So who do you think he was after, you or Nadia?"

"Maybe both of us. Nadia's anaphylactic episode was no accident was it?"

"No I don't think it was. I think Nadia may have seen her father's Killer. Maybe it was you're brother."

"No I don't think so, Adan was going to give him the diamonds. He hasn't got them, and someone has come after him. He too is wounded. But all this mess is his fault. He should have let Adan stop. He should have let us all stop. Do what was right. I… I don't believe he would have hired a killer to kill Adan or Nadia."

"Well lets hope that whoever hired him can be found. I don't think Kraig is going to talk. His condition is serious, I don't think he will live."

"I don't like such scum.…. Am I under arrest?"

Gibbs shook his head and flipped his mobile phone open again. "No, but you aren't going anywhere until we get this guy and this all sorted out." Quickly he dialed Fornell's number. The FBI could take in this Maalik's brother and Kraig King. He and his agent's needed a break.

_**Meanwhile at 3016 Ordway Street Northwest**_

The man looked over to the house. Abdulla was still inside. He checked his watch again, although he had done it the minute before. 01:00 Am. The girl should be dead by now and Abdulla would surely be asleep. He stood up and headed slowly over to the house. A few drunken teenagers yelled something in his direction but he ignored them. They wouldn't remember him.

Before he arrived at the door he took out his lock pick. In less than ten seconds he had picked the lock and was inside. He took out his gun and put on the silencer. Carefully he checked all the basement, but he didn't find anyone. He had to be upstairs. Silently he climbed the stairs. The doors upstairs were all open.

Suddenly he heard a noise. He heard a sharp gasp like someone was trying to hold their breath. He stood still and waited. One minute passed and then he heard someone breathe out. He looked; it was the second room to the left. He jumped over to the door frame and pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit Abdulla in the chest. His eyes went wide and shocked he stared down at the red spot on his shirt which was quickly spreading. He stumbled and stepped bumping against his attacker who simply raised his gun and placed it against Abdulla's forehead and pulled the trigger.

* * *

**TBC.**


	11. Chapter 11

**The Coffee-Task**

Nadia started to wake up slowly. She felt an arm wrapped around her and heard a slow and steady heartbeat. The faint smell of coffee tickled in her nose as she opened her eyes. She lay securely in the crook of Gibbs arms, who was lying sound asleep on the sofa.

"Huggaroo." She murmured sleepily. Carefully she tried to squirm out of his grip, not wanting to wake him up. However, his hand had the top of her pajama in a secure grip. After several minutes of carefully movements, she raised her arms and slid out of it, slinking to the floor.

Gibbs didn't wake up as her feet touched the ground. She turned around and looked up at him. He looked very tired. Nadia tiptoed towards the conference room door and reached for the doorknob, standing on the points of her toes to reach it. Carefully she pulled the doorknob down and slipped out of the room closing the door quietly behind her and headed down the corridor towards the bullpen.

"Good morning Nadia. Where's your pajama top?" She looked up and spotted Tim sitting at his desk working on his computer. He looked very, very, very tired, even more tired than Gibbs.

Nadia went over to him looking with a serious expression on her face up to him. "You should sleep. Otherwise you get cranky like daddy. He always got cranky when he didn't sleep." She said not answering his question.

Tim chuckled and stroked her hair. "I know I should get some sleep Nadia, but I have to work. I made a mistake and I want to make up for it."

"What did you do?" She asked curiously.

"It was my fault that you got sick."

"How can it be your fault that I got sick?"

Tim sighed heavily. How could he explain what he had done wrong?

"Where can I get coffee? Gibbs wants coffee when he wakes up." Nadia said interrupting his thoughts and glanced back to the room where Gibbs was sleeping.

"I'll buy you some coffee at the cafeteria and you can bring it to him if you want, but first you have to put a shirt on. You can't go down only wearing your pajama pants."

"YAY! THANK YOU TIMMY!" She cheered and reached up to hug him. Smiling he bent down and received the hug from her. "Come!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the lift.

"No, first we're going to get a shirt for you." Tim said and picked her up.

"Hmpf. I don't need any shirt. I'm warm enough." Nadia huffed and crossed her arms.

Tim sat her down on his chair and went to her backpack Gibbs had left at his desk to fetch a clean shirt. Finding nothing suitable he moved onto Ziva's desk draws and looked in the emergency backpack searching for one of her NCIS t-shirts. When he looked up a few seconds later he spotted Nadia reaching for his computer keyboard. "No, Nadia." He admonished sharply. A program was just running through all the information from every country that had contacts with Congo. It was a huge amount of data, he had no intention of losing or having to trace all over again.

Nadia quickly withdrew her hands and blushed guiltily. "I'm sorry." She whispered looking up giving Tim her biggest puppy-eyes.

Tim softened. "It's Okay. Just don't touch the computer."

Nadia nodded and raised her arms so Tim could slip the t-shirt over her head, "Now can we go?" Nadia jumped of the chair and grabbed Tim's hand once again dragging him towards the lift. Just as she reached up to press the button the doors opened with a ping and Leon Vance entered the bullpen.

"Who are you?" Nadia asked curiously. "You look like Mally, but he's much bigger than you." She continued without waiting for Vance to answer. "He was at the wedding of my mommy and daddy and let me ride on his shoulders. I could see the whooooole church from up there." She made a wide movement with both arms emphasizing the 'whole'.

"My name is Leon Vance." The NCIS-director said once the child had finished talking.

"It's a nice name. Have you see my puppy Goliath? I wanna play with him."

"Seen." Vance corrected automatically. His own children had made the same mistakes and it was still a reflex to correct small children's speaking.

"Huh?" Nadia looked confused.

"It's Have you seen my puppy? And yes I know where he is. He's downstairs with Abby."

Nadia stepped forward and hugged his legs. "Thank you." She smiled up at him.

"You're welcome Nadia." He said and mussed up her hair. It was difficult to resist her cute happy little face and those huge blue eyes. She let his legs go after a few seconds and turned her attention back to Tim. As she turned around she tripped over her oversized shirt and Vance quickly reached down and caught her before she fell to the ground.

"You have to be careful Nadia!" He admonished gently.

Nadia nodded distracted, as her thoughts were already re-focused on her coffee-task. "Come Tim. We gotta buy Gibbs' coffee before he wakes up. Otherwise it isn't a surprise." She dragged Tim into the lift and reached up to press the button for the cafeteria.

A few minutes later they returned in the bullpen. Nadia had her tongue positioned firmly at the corner of her mouth, helping no doubt with the level of concentration needed to carry the large cup of coffee in her hands. "Can you open the door for me Tim?" She asked.

"Sure." Tim replied and headed over to the door. Gibbs was still asleep as he looked inside. "Now you can go." He whispered to her and she quickly passed him. He watched quietly from the door, but was instantly distracted with the ping coming from the quiet hallway and obviously his computer. Excited by the prospect of a lead to one his traces Tim closed the door and headed back to his desk. He jumped in front and looked at the screen. A picture appeared on it with a text appearing a little at a time. Tim's eyes went wide with the completion of the written information; he couldn't believe what he was reading.

**Inside the room**

Nadia tiptoed over to the sofa. Her shirt was trailing along the ground behind. Every now and then she caught her foot on the hem, but always managed to keep her balance again. As she stood in front of Gibbs she withdrew her tongue, took a deep breath and yelled, "GIBBS!"

He jumped to his feet and reached for his gun. Nadia was smirking up at him, clad in a way to big NCIS-shirt which went all the way to the ground. Relieved he put his gun away, only to tie himself up in Nadia's r pajama-top he still gripped in his other hand. She had squirmed out of his grip and he hadn't even felt it. Boy, he had really needed the sleep.

"I brought you coffee." She said grinning at him innocently. She held up the cup towards him with both hands.

Gibbs crouched down in front of her and frowned at her. "Don't you ever, ever, ever scare me like that again understood?"

Nadia's smile instantly faded, and her bottom lip started to quiver, "Yes, Huggaroo." She said before a tear could escape, "I'm sworry."

Once his heart had stopped racing and he'd caught the image of two thick tears running down the little girls face, Gibbs felt like a heal. He noticed the huge cup of coffee in the child's hands, _For god sake! Who let this toddler carry a hot cup of coffee all the way in here? _he thought. He held his tongue however, as he looked at Nadia's wanting expression, "Hey, it's okay. Thank you for the coffee Sweetheart." He took the cup out of her hand and stroked her cheek with one hand wiping away the tears to produce a proud and forgiving grin.

"I wanna Thank-You-Hug." She claimed and reached up with both arms.

Gibbs chuckled. "You're the real Huggaroo here." He bent down and gave her the requested cuddle.

"Can I go down and play with Goliath. The little Mally said he's with Abby."

"Little Mally?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, the little Mally." She turned around and took a step. "Dumb shirt." She muttered as she tripped on it again. Gibbs sat the coffee-cup on the ground, took the shirt of her and slid the pajama top back over her head.

"Now you can go and play with Goliath." He twirled her around and gave her a gentle tap on the bottom as she ran to the door not even bothering to look back at him.

"The second lowest button!" He called after her. All of sudden his mobile phone rang. He reached in the pocked of his jacket and threw a quick glance on the screen.

He pressed the answer call button. "Yes Di Nozzo?"

"_Gibbs, Ziva is gonna be alright. The operation was a success. This doctor Michael has managed to sew all her muscles together again. He said she needed a few weeks break. One vertebra is also lightly damaged. The bullet broke off a small piece, but no nerves were damaged. Everything will heal again, but she has to wear a head rest until here muscles have knitted again."_

Gibbs let out a sigh of relief, "Thanks Tony. Stay with her another hour, then get back here!"

"_Yes, boss."_

As he pressed the end call button, Tim burst into the room. "Gibbs! I've found out who the killer is."

"Well tell then!" Gibbs ordered impatiently. He was fed up with not knowing who he was after. This had been one of his most difficult cases.

"Yes, sorry boss. Wait where's Nadia?

"MC GEE!"

"Oh yeah, my trace found him. I rerouted the core …forget it you wouldn't understand that anyway, but Boss you'll never guess. It's….."

**Mean cliffhanger!**

* * *

**That was a rather short chapter. Sorry for that, but I just wanted make this cliffhanger. The next chapter will be up next month... erm week.**

**Note for Gaben: Thanks for the title-suggestions but I already had one. Hope you can forgive me for not choosing one of yours.**


	12. Chapter 12

**First NOTE (and most importan): An enormous shout out to Gaben who helped me a great deal with this chapter.**

**Second note:**** Thanks to everyone who reviewed this story, but in the last time I get less and less reviews :(. Tell me what's wrong with the other chapters so I can better them up and don't say anything. I can stand criticism. Just tell me what I'm doing wrong and I try to make it better.**

**Third Note:**** To everyone who reads this story. Pleeeeaaaase review.**

* * *

**_Pockets full of Mischief_**

_**Abby's Lab**_

The doors opened with a silent ping and Nadia skipped out looking for Abby.

"Goliath?" She called and looked around. She heard him bark and then she heard claws slide along the ground as the puppy rounded a table sliding along the floor as he tried to turn towards her.

"Goliath!" Nadia exclaimed happily and ran towards the pup with wide open arms. He jumped up and pushed her to the ground, eager to greet her. Whimpering he licked her face and hands as she giggling scratched his neck and head.

"I missed you Goliath. Was Abby nice to you?"

Goliath's answer was a wet kiss right in the middle of her face and a coltish bark.

"Of course I was nice to him. I even bought him a dog-collar." Abby came out of the lab and knelt down next to Nadia who was cuddling Goliath. The pup fawned his tail so fast that he lost his balance and fell to the side. Quickly he got back to his paws and turned his attention to Abby who scratched his head.

"You wanna see it Nadia?" Abby asked after several minutes of scratching and petting Goliath.

"What?" The girl asked curiously.

"The collar I bought Goliath."

"Oh yes! Where is it?" She stood up and ran into the lab not waiting for Abby.

"Hey there! Wait for me." Abby went after her trying not to step on Goliath who sneaked in between her legs trying to get her attention again. "Not now Goliath. I have to show Nadia your dog-collar."

As she came into her lab Nadia had climbed up on a chair and was looking at the diamonds Abby had been working with. There still had been a small pile Abby needed to check fingerprints on, but most of them she had already tested and put into evidence bags.

"Is it this one?" Nadia climbed up on the table and reached out for the collar. As she did that she knocked over two bottles. With a loud clangor they fell on the table and rolled towards the edge of the table. Nadia froze and a frightened expression spread over her face. Abby lounged towards the table reaching out with both hands. She caught one in midair and the other right at the edge.

Nadia quickly sat down; ashamed she examined her hands as the quite peeved forensic scientist put the bottles high upon a cupboard.

"Nadia you know you're not supposed to climb around on tables. You could fall. These bottles contain very dangerous liquids, you could have gotten hurt." Abby scolded and put two fingers under the child's chin forcing her to look in her face. She had gotten quite a fright when she had seen Nadia knocking over the bottles. One of them had contained salt acid. Gibbs would have killed her if Nadia had cracked it.

Two thick tears trickled down Nadia's cheeks. "I'm sorry." She whispered and sniffed.

When Abby saw the tears her anger melted like ice in the sun. "Hey there. It's okay, luckily nothing happened." She picked up Nadia, who instantly buried her head in Abby's chest. "But don't do it again, clear?"

Abby felt a nod against her chest. "Then everything is alright. Come on now. Let's look at the collar." She picked it up and showed it to her. It was made of black-leather and small pink skulls were painted on it.

"I LOVE IT!" Nadia squealed and reached out with both hands to grab it. She spotted the small cylindrical sized box hanging on the collar. "What's that?"

"It's for one of your EppiPens. If you have an anaphylactic shock, Gibbs just has to call Goliath and then he delivers the EppiPen. Smart isn't it?"

Nadia frowned during the explanation. "Why didn't you put in some candy?"

"I don't think Gibbs would like that. But do you like the collar anyway?"

Nadia looked up in the nice woman's face and thought for a second. Abby was very nice and she really liked the dog-collar, however she didn't like the shot. She had gotten enough shots in the last few days for the rest of her life, but she didn't want to disappoint the Abby either.

"I like it, but I don't like the shot." Nadia said shivering and wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Well let's see if you can open the box." Abby handed the dog-collar to the girl in her arms. A few seconds later the box was open and Nadia had the EppiPen in her hands. "That's not child safe at all. They lied to me!"

"Now we can put sweets inside. Can you buy me some? Pleeeaaase! And then we could go to the playground. Please say yes. Please, please, please, pretty please!" She begged giving Abby her best puppy-eyes.

"I…. I better ask Gibbs. I should give him the EppiPen anyway." Abby sat Nadia down and headed for the lift. When she realized that Nadia wasn't following her, she turned around, "Come on, Shorty."

"No, I wanna stay here."

"Well you can't stay here by yourself there are too many dangers, come on!" she ordered.

"But I only got back, and I only just saw Goliath. Can't I play with him some more?" begged Nadia.

"No you can't. Actually I should put him back on the leash while we are gone."

"Noooo, please Abby?"

Abby again relented at the sight of the child's angelic and cute pout, "Hey what about you bring him with you, but we better put a lead on him. Now that he has a dog collar you'll be able to take him for a walk."

"Ohhh, that would be so very cool. Abby, good thinking!"

"Yep it is, isn't it!" a very chuffed Abby said, then walked over and grabbed the dog lead. It was one of those special ones that had a handle on the end that you could reel the lead in or out. Nadia was impressed once again.

The Tall Goth, trailed by Nadia, leading her excited puppy made their way to the elevator. Nadia quickly caught up to the long strides of Abby, "Hey! I get to hit the button, remember."

"Oh you are spoilt, Miss Nadia."

"That mean; yes?" The child asked innocently.

"Yep!" smiled Abby.

_**The Bullpen**_

"Boss, you'll never guess. It's an Italian policeman. His name is Curzio Di Lauro, but Gibbs according to the files he died two years ago." Tim said his voice filled with a mixture of excitement and thoughtfulness.

"Are you sure about the results? And what the hell does Italia have to do with Congo? Why should it be in their interest to end the war?" Gibbs asked and headed for the large display in the bullpen.

"I've double checked everything and Italia has signed a contract with the government of Congo, which allows them to mine their mineral resources for ten years. The contract was signed four months ago." McGee replied and sent up all the information on the display.

"And what's with this Cursio?" Gibbs questioned while reading an article about the contract.

"Curzio, boss. His name is Curzio Di Lauro." McGee corrected and looked for the file about the dead policeman.

Gibbs just sent him and angry glare. Tim gulped and quickly sent the file about Curzio to the display. "He died two years ago. He was a member in a S.W.A.T-Team. He got shot during a raid against the Sicilian mafia. His body was cremated and buried on the graveyard Cimitero Acattolico. Here are all the documents. This man is officially dead Gibbs."

"And now he's walking around in the USA shooting members of the CNDP. Have you any trails?"

McGee shook his head and looked despondent. He hadn't been able to make up for his mistake. He may have found out who the killer was but they still had no idea where he was and what he planned.

"McGee!"

Tim looked up.

"Good job. Now we know who it is. Soon we'll catch this bastard. Go and get some sleep. You can't work when you're this tired." Gibbs ordered. Tim looked like he would fall asleep any second. Gibbs knew he wanted to make up for the mistake he made while he had guarded Nadia at his house. But Gibbs was having a hard time convincing his young agent that it wouldn't happen again.

"Thank you boss." With a relieved sigh Tim turned to the conference room to get some sleep on the sofa. Just as he closed the door behind him Abby came out of the lift.

"Gibbs. I bought Goliath a dog-collar with a box where I could put an EppiPen. They said the lock would be childproof, but Nadia opened it in less than ten seconds. Anyway, has she already gotten some breakfast? If she hasn't I can take her down to the cafeteria and buy her some. You could come too if you want."

Nadia trotted up behind Abby, Goliath in tow. Once she got to Abby side she pointed to her pup, "Sit. Sit Goliath!" She coached

The team was momentarily distracted by Nadia's animated scene, then even more impressed as the pup complied to her demands. Nadia stood up chuffed, hands on her hips, she reveled in the applause for both her and Goliath, "Good Boy!" she sang and rewarded the pup by ruffling his fur just behind his ears.

"Wow Nadia, you're a natural born leader." complemented Tim.

"Na, the kids been spending too much time around Gibbs, the dogs probably scared shi…" Gibbs threw Tony a menacing glare… "Ahhh… the dog just recognizes the skilled authority figure in you."

"Oh its sooo cute, isn't it Gibbs. Before long he'll be able to do lots of things. Hey, maybe we can train him to be a SAR-dog. Wouldn't that be cool, Gibbs? You know we could do with one of those. Goliath's a little small yet, but we could get a trained one now. He or she could help teach Goliath. You know dogs do pick up other dogs as role models, Gibbs. We could…."

"Abbs!" Gibbs raised a hand to interrupt her endless talking. "Great , Abbs, but what about the case. I need you to send out some pictures to the FBI and the newspapers. We need every help we can get. I'll take Nadia to the cafeteria and you can join us when you're finished."

"Okay. But Gibbs….."

This time Abby was interrupted by Nadia who tugged on Abby's sleeve demanding her attention. "What's a Stardog!"

"Not Stardog, I said SAR-dog. SAR means Search And Rescue." Abby explained then turned back to Gibbs.

"Gibbs, what I wanted to say was….."

Again she was interrupted but this time by the signal of Gibbs mobile phone.

He flipped it open and threw a quick glance on the screen. It was Fornell.

"_Gibbs. My men have found Abdulla Kutesa. He's dead. One bullet in the chest and another one in the head. No traces. And King is also as good as dead. He suffered a __cerebral hemorrhage during the fight with this doctor Maalik Kutesa. King's heart is still beating but he won't wake up again. The doctors said he wouldn't survive the day. Your doctor most likely killed our only trail. Are you sure he hasn't anything to do with this?"_

"Yes."

"_I call you when we've found him."_ With these words Fornell hung up. Gibbs sighed and pressed the end call button. Everything seemed to fail. Whatever they tried, this Curzio was one step ahead.

"May I speak now?" Abby asked somewhat displeased about the constant interrupting.

"Yes you may."

"Gibbs Nadia is…." She didn't get any further. McGee came out of the conference room looking for Gibbs.

"Gibbs, I send the data to Abby first, so she can continue to…"

"MCGEE! Silence! I'm talking here." Abby bellowed and put her hands against her hips. Tim shut his mouth and stood still.

Goliath had become restless and was sniffing at the desks. Nadia frowned then realised her pup needed to go. As Abby yelled the puppy jumped and took off towards the stairwell. Having no choice Nadia followed trying to hold on to the lead. Nobody took any notice of the small child struggling to control the over determined pup as they disappeared from view through the exit doors.

Goliath wasn't the only one to jump, the team surprised at Abby's quick retort returned their attention immediately towards her. Satisfied Abby turned to Gibbs.

"Nadia told me she wanted to go to the play ground. Can I go with her? Tony could come with us and look so nothing happens."

"No, the risk is too high."

"Okay." Abby hung her shoulders.

"McGee send everything you've found out to the FBI. And send a picture to the news. Then get some sleep." Gibbs headed for the lift with Abby tight on his heels.

"On it boss." McGee replied and sat down in front of his computer.

_**Abby's Lab**_

Nadia was both exhausted and proud of her puppy. Goliath had been able to find his way back to the lab via the stairwell. He headed to the corner, where Abby had made a sand box for the dog.

Nadia nodded, "Okay, Good doggy Goliath." She took off the lead and let the puppy do his business. While she waited patiently she spotted her stars still in neat piles on Abby's work bench.

She just wanted to look and play with them one more time, but Abby had said she wasn't allowed to touch anything. Goliath having finished returned to her side and nudged her belly with his nose and whimpered.

"Yes, I know you wanna play too, but I wanna some of my stars back." She went over to the table and raised to her tiptoes trying to get a better look.

"See they twinkle so nice." Nadia whispered. She threw a quick glance to the lift then she stretched her arm trying to grab some "stars". She was too short. Her fingertips couldn't reach them. She huffed angrily. Undeterred she realised the "stars" where on a tray. If she just could drag the tray a bit closer to the edge of the table she would be able to take one or maybe some more. She reached up again and her fingertips touched the edge of the tray. She stretched herself a bit more and finally she was able to grab the tray and drag it towards her. Now, if she could to see which one was the brightest maybe she'd just take that and everything would be perfect.

Nadia turned around looking something she could climb up on. She grabbed a waste paper basket and tipped it upside down. Then she grabbed the edge of the table with both hands and climbed up.

"Bravo." Nadia cheered; just like her mother would have said. She grabbed the two largest diamonds she saw. She glanced back to the lift, but didn't see anyone. Quickly she grabbed the small box that had been attached to the dog-collar and put the two larger diamonds and another five small diamonds into it. She jumped down and attached the box once again to Goliaths collar.

Again she climbed the table, now looking for the biggest "star" on the tray. Her face lit up with joy when she found one. She sat down on the table top and held the diamond in front of the lamp Abby had used to examine them in detail. A small flickering light appeared on the wall and Goliath ran barking over to it, chasing the movement.

It hadn't taken long for Abby and Gibbs to realize where the child and her dog must have disappeared to. When they finally entered the lab they were met by a familiar scene. Nadia was sitting on the table giggling playing with one of the diamonds.

"Nadia! I told you not to climb up on the tables. You could fall." Abby bellowed as soon as he spotted the little girl.

Nadia winced and slid closer to the edge, intending to jump down. She went to push herself of the table with both hands, but accidentally put one hand into the tray. As she pushed herself off, the tray slid away and she fell with a squeal headfirst onto the ground. Neither Gibbs nor Abby made it in time to catch her. The tray with the diamonds clashed with the ground a second before Nadia hit her forehead against the hard floor. A sharp pain shot through her head and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Ow!" She whimpered quietly, then as she realized how much it really hurt, she burst into loud wails. Gibbs was at her side in less than a second and picked her up. Nadia wrapped her arms and buried her head in the crook of his neck. Goliath froze as he heard his mistress crying. He let out a small whimpering noise and ran over to Abby, who put a hand on his head.

Gibbs stood up and settling Nadia on one arm, while he put the other on the back of her head. "I'll take her to Ducky."

Nadia clung to him as if her life depended on it.

"Shhhh. Everything will be alright Sweetheart. Hushhhhh." He soothed all the while rubbing the back of her head and her neck.

Holding her head, "It hu-hurts." She sobbed.

"I know. I'll take you to Ducky and he'll make you well again. Who knows he even might have another lollipop for you." He said trying to cheer her up a bit. However Nadia had no interest in a lollipop right now. Her head was hurting and she wanted Gibbs to assure her that everything would be good again. She hiccupped and tried to snuggle closer to him. In the lift Gibbs tried to take a look on her forehead, but it was quite difficult while she clung to him.

As the doors of the lift slid open Ducky was already waiting on them. He had heard the cries even before the lift had stopped at his floor.

"What happened Jethro?" He asked and tried to take a look at the whimpering child in his arms. Nadia pressed herself closer to Gibbs.

"She fell and hit her head. Can you take a look at her to see if she's got a concussion?" Gibbs asked, as he carried her over to one of the tables, then tried to free himself from Nadia's vice-like grip. "Nadia, I need you to be a big girl now and let Ducky take look on your head."

Nadia shook her head and tightened her hold around his neck. Gibbs sat down on one of the autopsy tables and gently released himself out of her grip. He turned her around so she sat on his lap her back leaning against his stomach. Now he saw the small lump on her forehead. He wrapped his arms around her hold her tight to him.

Ducky bent down in front of her and held up a lollipop in front of her. Now that Nadia had seen the candy she decided she wanted it.

"Nadia follow the Lollipop with your eyes please." Ducky asked and moved it slowly from side to side. Nadia did as requested and hesitantly reached out with one hand after the candy.

Ducky smiled at her reaction. She had already calmed down a bit and she had no problem with following the candy with her eyes. "She's fine Jethro. All she needs is some ice and as I guess some cuddle-time with you." He stated and handed her the prize.

Nadia took it and immediately started to unwrap the paper. Gibbs chuckled at her eagerness and took it out of her hands. "Not now Sweetheart. First we're gonna eat some breakfast."

"Okay." She mumbled and turned around on his lap. He gladly offered the demanded hug, feeling relieved that she wasn't hurt. Nadia put her head in the crook under his chin, one arm around his neck and the thumb in her mouth. Her eyes were still red and puffy and full of tears, but despite occasional sniffles and hiccups she had calmed down.

"Come on lets go then, breakfast it is." Gibbs said and tried to put her down on the ground. Nadia whimpered and clung tighter to him. "Alright, I carry you Little One, but you know you're getting quite heavy." He teased.

"I'm not heavy." She protested.

"Yes, you are." He tickled her tummy with one hand causing her to giggle.

"Feeling better as I see."

Nadia nodded, took her thumb out of her mouth and hugged him tightly. "Gibbs?" She mumbled.

"Yes?"

"Are you my new daddy?"

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**Hope you liked it. And as I said in the beginning of the story. Please review! It will make me soooo happy.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A big thanks go to my beta-reader Gaben who helped very, very much with this chapter. Especially with the scene with Tony and Ziva. Hope you all like the story and enjoy reading.**

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Previously:

McGee had identified the murderer; An Italian agent called Curzio di Lauro. According to the files he had died two years ago, but now it appears he is alive and in Washington shooting members of the CNDP.

While Gibbs and McGee were discussing the developments and how to proceed in capturing the man, Nadia had headed down to Abby's lab and stole several diamonds and hid them in Goliath's new dog-collar. She got caught while she was playing with a diamond and fell of the table. After she calmed down she asked Gibbs, "Are you my new daddy?"

_**Breakfast and Problems**_

Gibbs stopped dead in his tracks for a second, then continued on his way. Nadia reminded him so like Kelly at the same age that it hurt. Though the longer they were together the more the pain died away and the smiles of those times returned, merged with new memories and experiences.

Nadia's question needed a response and Gibbs would love to say yes, but he had to be realistic. There was a very small chance that he would be allowed to adopt Nadia. However, they didn't know if she still had relatives in France. Even McGee had failed to find information about the whereabouts of Marie's parents. If Nadia continued to call him daddy, happy, content and settled, what was going to happen if suddenly relatives appeared and took custody? But, saying No right now was going to hurt her and he didn't want that either.

"Giiiibbs?" Nadia pleaded, wanting him to answer her question.

He realized that he had been thinking for a long time and smiled at the child's questioning eyes. "Why do you want to call me daddy Nadia?" He replied, instead of answering her question.

"Cuz I want a daddy and a mommy." She murmured playing with the button on his shirt. "Don't you wanna be my daddy?" She asked tears welling up in her big blue eyes.

"I would love to be your daddy Nadia, but….. I don't know if I can."

"Is it hard to be my daddy?"

"Yes, you're quite a balky little girl." Gibbs said chuckling but stopped when he heard a quiet sniff. "Shhhh, shhh. It was a joke Nadia. You're the most beautiful little girl in the world and every daddy would be proud to have you as his daughter." He quickly continued when he realized that he had hurt her feelings.

"You sure?" Nadia asked wiping away tears with her sleeve.

"I know it. It's a fact. Nadia Anderson; The Bestest Daughter of the World!"

"In the WHOLE WIDE world and really all the daddies?" Nadia giggled and kissed his cheek.

"Yep, I promise."

"Welllla, Ifin I'm so good shouldn't I get some ice-cream?" She probed, giving him her biggest puppy-dog eyes and her sweetest smile.

"You have a sweet tooth don't you?" Gibbs teased tickling her tummy causing her to squeal with delight. He was glad that she had forgotten her original question. "I'll buy you some ice for your head, but you already had ice-cream for breakfast yesterday."

"But Giiiiibs." Nadia moaned, "I wanna ice-cream."

By now they had reached the cafeteria and he put her down on her own feet. Nadia skipped ahead towards the freezer which contained several sorts of ice-cream. Gibbs shook his head, took a tray and loaded it with bread, yogurt and fruit. As he went to pay at the checkout, Nadia ran over to him holding an ice-cream in her hand.

"I said no Nadia, now put it back please."

"But it's for my head." The four year old protested, "I took the biggest one so it would be extra, extra, extra cold."

The woman behind the cash register covered her mouth with one hand, trying to keep herself from laughing at the sight of a four year old arguing with Gibbs.

Gibbs looked down at her and was just about to take the ice from her when he relented. "Okay. You can have it after….."

"YAY!" Nadia cheered and hugged his legs.

"I wasn't finished little one. You can have it after breakfast if you're still hungry."

"No, I want it now." Nadia pouted.

Gibbs put the tray away and held out one hand. "Give it to me."

Still sulking Nadia put the ice–cream behind her back, "I can hold it, for later."

"Well that would be very silly, because it will have melted by then and will no longer be cold. Then it won't do your head any good or the heat in your bottom from the smack it will receive if you do not hand it over right now, little miss."

Nadia put the soft ice cream in Gibbs hand, and stomped over to a table. Gibbs shook his head and put the ice-cream back into the freezer.

"She's quite a handful isn't she?" The cashier asked as Gibbs paid.

He nodded. "Yes, she is. Could I have some ice for her? She hit her head."

"Of course you can. I'll bring it."

"Thanks." Gibbs picked up the tray and headed over to Nadia. He sat down and she came over climbing up on his lap, where she curled herself together to a tight little ball. Gibbs spread some butter and jelly on a toast and handed it to her just as the cashier appeared holding an ice pack.

"Here you are."

"Thanks." Gibbs took the ice bag and gently put it against Nadia's forehead. She shivered but let out a satisfied sigh.

Abby entered the cafeteria and looked around. She spotted Gibbs and Nadia sitting at one of the tables. Nadia was sitting on Gibbs' lap eating her breakfast while he held an ice-pack against her forehead.

"Full service." Abby grinned and headed over to them.

Nadia, recognizing her bubbly voice looked up and waved at her. "Abby! Gibbs is gonna buy me ice-cream." She informed the Goth with a huge smile.

"Uh-uh. I wouldn't be so sure about that Little One." Gibbs said, "First you're going to eat your breakfast. You'll get your ice cream later."

"But you promised." Nadia whined twisting on his lap to eye him menacingly.

"Yes, I did, but only if you're still hungry."

"Humpft! No fair." Nadia crossed pouting her arms and glared up at Gibbs. He simply ignored her sulking and held the toast in front of her mouth. The child held her stubborn expression for a second, then took a bite from the bread. While she was chewing she still glared at him. Gibbs tried hard not to laugh at her expression. Her intentions at trying to look angry and stern failed completely due to her full mouth.

"Stop pouting now Nadia. I'll promise to buy you some ice-cream after lunch." Gibbs demanded tapping her on the nose.

Nadia giggled and turned her head away. "Hmmmmm….. Okay."

Meanwhile Abby had also grabbed some breakfast and was watching Gibbs and Nadia. "Gibbs how's the lump on her head?" She asked while sipping on a huge cup of CAF-Pow.

Gibbs removed the ice-pack from the girls head and looked down. The swelling had started to get smaller, but you can still clearly see it. "Better." He revealed, and then put the ice-bag back in place.

"Gibbs, I wanna see Mally." Nadia declared and started to get off his lap.

Gibbs quickly put his cup of coffee back on the table and pulled her into a hug keeping her in place. "Not yet, as soon as you've finished your breakfast we can go."

"But I'm full." The girl protested.

"You have only eaten half off one piece of toast. You'll eat at least one whole slice." Gibbs stated and held the toast in front of her mouth. Sighing as if she was forced to eat vegetables Nadia bit in the jelly-covered toast. As soon as she had finished it, she jumped down from Gibbs lap and ran towards the lift. Gibbs stood up grabbed his coffee and headed over to where the child stood up on her toes to reach the button.

Gibbs came to her side and took her hand in his so that she wasn't able to run away. Nadia scowled, but let him hold her hand. Soon they were up in the bullpen again and Gibbs let Nadia's hand go, so she could go and look after her "Mally". The Doctor was sitting behind Ziva's desk. Cheering the girl ran over to him raising both arms in his direction. Laughing he picked her up tossing her up in the air and catching her again, causing her to shriek loudly.

"Again!" She demanded and Maalik obeyed.

As he caught her for the second time, the doctor spotted the lump on the child's forehead and frowned. He transferred her to one arm and took her chin gently in one hand, holding her still so he was able to take a good look at her. Nadia squirmed, clearly not happy being examined like this.

"Hold still." Maalik said with concern as she tried to free her chin from his grip. Nadia frowned more and eyed the fingers which were holding her in place. Knowing this look, Gibbs quickly intervened before Nadia could follow through with her obvious intentions and bite Maalik.

"It's just a lump. She's fine."

The Afro-American let her down again and she ran back to Gibbs. "Can we go to a playground? Mally wants to come with us." She asked looking up at Gibbs.

"Do I?" Maalik cocked an eyebrow, but smiled.

"Obviously." Gibbs replied and crouched down in front of Nadia. "I'm afraid we can't go Nadia. It's…. _it's too dangerous. You could get killed._" That was the truth, but he doubted that she would understand so instead he said,"It's too cold and Maalik is hurt. He won't be able to go far. Look at the thick bandage around his arm."

Nadia looked up and frowned as she examined the bandage. "Does it hurt?" She asked tentatively.

Maalik shook his head. Ducky had earlier given him a pain killer, but he would need more soon.

"GOOD! Then we can go to playground." Nadia cheered clapping her hands.

Gibbs frowned at Maalik who just shrugged his shoulders and grinned smugly, suggesting his silent innocence, _"Don't look at me, I won't take the blame. Try something else."_

"No, we can't go Nadia."

"Why?" She droned and stomped her foot.

"Because you're still in your pajama's." Gibbs said, finally finding a good plausible answer.

"Where're my clothes?" Nadia asked looking around as if she expected to find them under one of the desks.

"In my house and we can't go there right now." Gibbs explained.

"Why?" She questioned, but Gibbs didn't hear her. He was in deep thoughts, trying to figure a way to keep the little girl safe until they tracked down the murderer. Vance was looking for a safe house, but it would take some time until they could go there and Tony was still in the hospital waiting for Ziva to wake up. They needed a replacement for the agent until she was healthy again. Right now he only had McGee to help him protect the little girl.

"WHY?" Nadia shouted, causing Gibbs to jump. She had already asked him once, but he hadn't been listening. She really didn't like being ignored. He frowned down at her and suddenly she felt a bit uneasy. She knew she wasn't supposed to shout. Her daddy had told her to tug on his sleeve or tap him and say 'Scuse me', if he hadn't heard her, instead of yelling.

"'M sorry." She quickly said, but Gibbs still crouched down in front of her.

"If you want something Nadia, you'll ask for it in a normal tone, you will not yell." He stated and Nadia quickly nodded reaching up for a hug. Gibbs took her arms in his hands and pinned them back to her sides. If he hugged her now, she would suppose that everything was finished and that she was forgiven. Truth be known, he already had forgiven her when she said that she was sorry, but he knew he had to follow through and not let her puppy-eyes do their magic. It had been the same with Kelly when she was that young. But, Gibbs soon realized that Kelly knew that she was able to make him give in with that same look. He had quickly made it clear that it didn't work anymore and had to endure some tantrums thrown by Kelly until she understood that her little secret had been discovered.

"I wasn't finished Little One. You have carried on all morning Nadia. I think it's time for some new rules." Gibbs led the child over to a chair and stood her in front of him. "Are you listening?"

Nadia nodded, still somewhat unhappy with the situation, but listening to the chastisement of Gibbs, she also stood quietly.

"You won't wander off on your own and if Goliath's dragging you tell us. I was worried when you suddenly disappeared and I got even more worried when I saw you fall and hit your head. I don't want that happen again. So stay close to me, McGee or Abby then you'll be safe. And Nadia…." Gibbs put two fingers under her chin and gently tilted her head up, "You don't bite people. And don't try to deny it." He quickly added as Nadia opened her mouth to protest, "I saw that look on your face when Maalik held you on his arm and looked at your bump. So these are the rules: No biting, no lying, no wandering off and no badgering people about ice-cream or sweats all the time."

Nadia nodded again and sniffed.

Gibbs softened; he stood up and picked her up settling her on one arm. She wrapped her legs around his waist and lay her head down on his shoulder. Now Nadia knew she was forgiven or at least he wasn't gonna put her in a timeout or make her take a nap and the lecture was over. She hated to listen to lectures, but right now she was safely swaddled in her Huggaroo's arms. She snuggled close to him and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm sorry Huggaroo." She mumbled.

"You're forgiven Nadia." Gibbs assured her and kissed her forehead. Nadia put her forehead in the crook of his neck and wrapped her arms around him too.

As Maalik heard the word Huggaroo he pressed his lips tightly together stifling a laugh. Nadia seemed very comfortable with this Gibbs and she trusted him. She had even given him a nickname. She always gave people she liked nicknames. He was sure that this agent would look after her well. Gibbs gently massaged her back and slowly and surely she fell asleep in his arms.

**DC General Hospital fourth floor orthopedic Wing Room 543**

Slowly Ziva regained consciousness. Her neck felt stiff and she felt strange, but also good at the same time, as if she could fly away any second. The bed she was laying in felt as soft as a cloud and the white sheets seemed to gleam like snow in the sun. Smiling, she let her hands run over the sheet feeling the softness of the fabric.

"Ziva! Finally you're awake." She heard someone call. The voice was familiar. Her brain tried to match a face to the voice. After some seconds she managed to recall Tony's face. She tried to turn her head but she wasn't able to move. It was like connected it wasn't to her shoulders.

"Don't move. The doctors said you have to lay still."

She opened her mouth trying to ask where she was, but it only an incomprehensible mixture of English, Hebrew and some other languages came out, all jumbled and mixed together.

Tony came to her side and looked concerned down at her. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." Ziva replied. "I feel like a butterfly. So light and quick like I could fly. You know someone said once: Luck is like a butterfly; if you sit still it may come and sit down on you, but if you chase it, it'll fly away."

Tony frowned and looked at Morphine drip. Maybe the dose was a little too high. Suddenly he felt a vice-like grip around his arm. He flinched and looked down. Ziva had grabbed him and dragged him close to her.

"Tony is Nadia alright? I remember an intruder and then nothing. I heard something and turned my head to look and then something hard knocked me out." She had finally managed to free herself from the fuzziness the medication was having on her brain. At least for some seconds, anyway. She started to lose the control again.

"Yes, everything's alright. Maalik killed the murderer." Tony calmed her, and then gently released himself from her grip.

"Good," she sighed and sank back in the bed, letting the medication take over her senses again. "Tony?" She whispered looking up at him. "Why are you always dressed so elegant and spend so much money on haircuts?"

"Uh… What?"

Ziva kept her eyes closed and was not aware that the drugs in her system were playing havoc with the strange musings in her head. Tony listened on, not because Gibbs would have killed him if he dared to leave her unguarded, but because he was curious as to what would come out of the ex mossad agents mouth. Nothing like having a bit of amo up ones sleeve for when the little ninja got to smarty for her cargo pants.

"So does this remind you of a movie?" She mumbled, and then giggled. "I like the way Tony talks about stupid movies. I think he is going bald. His big forehead is shiniest..esttess, shinier glowing like a badger, hee, hee , bald as a baby bottom, ohh I said bottom. No that would not be good …..hmmmm. The handsome Tony DiNozzo….hmmm, very handsome…very nice…saved me again, does it remind him of a movie. Movies are not real, too bad, too sad….hmmm, too mad too, Tony? I don't think we are in canvas anymore. Huh,I said canvas, like a painting not in Kansas anymore, but home. McGee tell Tony his hair is falling out, hee, hee, I would still like him but do not tell him so."

Tony didn't move the reveal of Ziva's subconscious ramblings had him deep in thought and slightly emotional for a couple of seconds before panic took completely over and he ran to the bathroom mirror and started checking his hair line.

**Somewhere in Washington DC**

A mobile phone rang in a small hotel room. A pale man who was sitting in a chair reached out with one hand and flipped it open.

"_Curzio my friend. Why isn't the girl dead?"_ A voice asked with heavy Italian accent.

The Italian swallowed hard. He knew he didn't have much time left. Soon they would just leave him here not even bothering about what he could say or do. He had no proof that he could use against his boss or the organisation he was in. To the authorities, he would just be an Italian fugitive who had faked his own death and who was now on a shooting spree in America. No there would be no bargaining chips for him. If he was caught, it was a needle in his arm. And if he didn't complete this job soon, that was a certainty.

"She'll be dead by the end of this month. I promise. I just need some more time."

"_Good, I'll give you one more month. If she isn't dead by then we'll leave you there and freeze your bank accounts."_

"You won't have to do that. And it isn't my entire fault. The man you recommended, this Kraig, failed. If he hadn't messed up his mission, I would be finished here. It will please you to hear that the leader of the CNDP is now dead. I shot him in his brother's house."

"_Then you're not as useless as you seem to be, but you're wrong about one point, Curzio, if you hadn't missed the girl in the beginning you wouldn't be in this mess."_ He sneered through the cell phone and Curzio had to take a deep breath to control his boiling anger. All of sudden he heard another phone ring. _"Wait Curzio I have to take this."_

Before he could reply, his boss had put away the phone and answered the other one. Curzio could hear the other conversation going on. He concentrated, trying to find out what they were talking about, but he didn't quite understand what they were saying. Suddenly the conversation ended and Curzio's boss was back on the line to him.

"_A problem has appeared Curzio."_ The voice said taking a short break. Curzio knew this man loved to play such games. He wanted that he asked what kind of problem had appeared.

"What kind of problem?" Curzio asked feeling that more bad news was coming.

"_The NCIS seems to know who you are. They sent pictures of you to the newspapers. This changes everything of course. We can't afford them to link you to the Italian government Curzio. It would be a most unpleasable scandal. You've got one week."_ And with that the phone call ended.

In shock Curzio looked at his now silent mobile phone. Then he exploded with anger. He threw the phone against the wall smashing it in pieces and screamed out in frustration. "Voi bastardo. Solo un maledetto settimana!" ( You bastard. Only one damned week!)

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**I hope you liked the chapter. The end will come soon as you see. Please review and tell me how you liked it.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A huge shoutout for Gaben who has helped me soooo much with this chapter. She has earned herself a virtual hug. THANK YOU GABE!**

**To everyone else: Hope you like it and sorry that it took so long time to update. The holidays are over and I have to go to school again, so there won't be regulary updates anymore.**

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**Drawings and Trouble**

_**The bullpen NCIS headquarters Washington DC**_

Maalik put one of the painkillers Ducky had given to him in his mouth and set the glass against his lips. He took large gulps of water then wiped his mouth with his sleeve as he looked around the bullpen. Nadia was sitting on Gibbs desk drawing on a paper.

The little girl sat concentrating for all her worth, her tongue paused in motion to the side of her mouth. A frown soon appeared when she ran out of colors. Gibbs blue, red and black ball point pens offered her little creativity.

She ran over to Maalik and tried to crawl up on his lap. "I wanna draw with you." She declared as he lifted her up, then settling her down on his knee.

"What do you want to draw then?" He asked, turning her around so she was facing the table in front of them.

"Hmmmm…. Goliath! I wanna draw Goliath!" She exclaimed excitedly, grabbing a pen and paper. Maalik also took a pen and waited for her instructions of where and how he should draw. Soon the little girl gave him her detailed instructions of what she wanted and how she wanted it.

Nadia looked in awe as the tall Doctor sketched her pup in just a few minutes. "WOW! You're the bestest drawer in the world! Gibbs! GIBBS!" She called. Grabbing the paper she jumped from Maalik's lap and went looking for her grey-haired protector.

Maalik quickly got to his feet and followed the little girl. Gibbs hadn't asked him to watch Nadia, but he took it for granted to look after the child, while Gibbs discussed something with this Director Vance or as he chuckled to himself, "Little Mally," like Nadia had dubbed him.

"Gibbs has to talk with his boss Nadia. You can show him the picture later." He said holding her back by the back of her shirt, as she tried to run up the stairs to Vance's office.

"But I wanna show it now. I can say 'Scuse Me' and then he won't be angry, cause daddy and Gibbs said that I had to say ' Scuse Me' if they're talking and I want them to listen to me instead." She seriously explained while trying to squirm out of Maalik's grip.

"Tell you what. I will give the picture to you as a gift, then you can show it to him later. How about that?" He picked her up by the waist and swung her around so that she was facing the bullpen again.

Nadia tipped her head back and looked up at him with wide eyes. "Really? You give the picture to me?" She asked unsure if she should burst out into happy cheers and hug him or bite him if he had lied to her.

"Yes, Really!" Maalik assured her and stroked her head.

"THANK YOU!" She cheered and hugged his legs then frowned. "But I have to give you something too." She mused chewing on her bottom lip, trying to think of something she could give her friend in return.

"Now you…" Maalik started but was interrupted buy Nadia.

"NOW I KNOW! Come Mally." She grabbed his hand and headed for the lift.

Sighing the large Afro-American followed the little girl. A few minutes later they were down in Abby's lab. The forensic scientist was still in the cafeteria eating her breakfast, so there was no one to except Goliath who was on his leash. He barked wildly as he recognized Nadia and tried to free himself of the leash. Nadia ran over to him with her arms spread out wide and greeted him as eagerly as the pup greeted her. Maalik watched her as she unhooked the small box which was dangling on Goliath's collar. He suspected that it contained some cookies for the pup and she was going to allow him to give Goliath one. However his eyes grew wide eyed in absolute surprise when the four year old opened the box and took out a large diamond.

"Here I give you one of my stars." She said holding it up to him.

Maalik stared, completely taken back of the offer now being made to him. The diamond was the biggest he had ever seen and would be worth a fortune. He would finally be able to build the hospital in Congo. Not only that, but the project would also employ many of the locals. It could be so much good. _Sure it wouldn't buy equipment or the medicines as well, perhaps he should prioritise here, what was really needed. _But then the tall man hesitated. The innocent child looking up at him, with adulation and trust pulled at his conscience. _Would it be right? Would it be right to take the diamond from the girl?_ Then he shook his head. _No Maalik! You've always wanted to do the right thing. Don't take it. It's wrong._

Not only that but these diamonds were the cause for everything that had gone wrong. He had to put it back where it came from. He already reached out with one hand then jerked the diamond back towards Nadia as if it was glowing hot. He didn't want his fingerprints to be found on it either; they would think he had wanted to steal it. They had thought him the murderer earlier on; they would quickly suspect him again. In panic he reached inside his pocket and took out a clean handkerchief.

"I don't want it to get dirty." He explained to Nadia's now curious look.

The girl shrugged. "They don't get dirty they're stars. Stars are always nice, they never get dirty."

Maalik smiled at her explanation then let her put the diamond in his hand. He wrapped the handkerchief around it and as Nadia concentrated on Goliath again, he quickly put the diamond back on the small heap on the bench, that were still being tested.

As Nadia looked up, he put the now empty scrunched up handkerchief into his trouser pocket. "Come Nadia, we should go now."

"Okay." She put the box into her pajama top pocket and reached up with both hands.

Maalik took her cue and picked her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. He carried her over to the lift again. As Nadia reached out to press the button the doors swooshed open and Abby appeared.

"Hi! Who's your friend Nadia? Oh wait no don't tell me… He's your friendly giant you were telling me about." Before Maalik could answer, Abby jumped into the big man's arms and bear hugged him, "You are the Hero who killed the killer who hurt Ziva. My name is Abigail, but call me Abby, everyone does that. And you're a doctor right, boy are you tall, you're taller than me, you're right Nadia he is a giant, but a nice giant, right?" She said and then tried again to wrap her arms around his neck. Even if Abby was tall she still looked small next to Maalik, so she wasn't able to reach up.

Maalik, somewhat surprised by that behavior, bent automatically down to receive the kiss from the tall Goth.

"YAY! Grouphug!" Nadia giggled and put one arm around Abby giving her a tight squeeze.

Abby snickered and released herself gently out of the little girls embrace.

"What were you doing here anyway?" She asked.

Before Maalik could respond Nadia sang out the truth, "I gave Mally one of the stars cause he made a drawing of Goliath for me. Ain't it beautiful?" She asked holding up the picture in front of the Goth's face.

Abby's eyes grew wide. "What do you mean your stars? The diamonds, you mean the diamonds? Where is it?" She asked sharply causing Nadia to jump. She hadn't expected that Abby would get angry.

Maalik, who was using his handkerchief to remove Abby's lip print, also jumped, "I put it back. I did only touch it with a handkerchief and immediately put it back in the pile." Maalik indicated nervously.

Abby continued her interrogation. She took Nadia's chin in her hand, "Nadia! Did you take any more diamonds?" Intimidated Nadia hid her face in Maalik's chest not wanting to look at the tall woman's frown anymore.

"I think I better go to the Cafeteria. You two seem to have something to talk about." Maalik excused himself and handed Nadia over to Abby. He felt somewhat guilty as the girl gave him a pleading look with her big blue eyes and reached out with her arms after him. "No little one, you shouldn't have taken them." He patted her on the arm, then looked at Abby, "She is very young and was only trying to give me a gift, believe me I could have done a great deal with just one of those diamonds. I dare say I could save lives, but…" He took the little girls hand and said, "They are not mine and they have caused a great deal of pain. You need to let these people find all the bad men, who stole them. No, Nadia I cannot accept your gift."

Nadia couldn't see it his way. As far as she was concerned, they were her daddies' stars, they were her stars, her daddy had given them to her. "Nobody took them."

"Yes they did Nadia and now you took them, that was very naughty." scolded Abby.

Maalik got in the lift, scowling at the child. "Nadia, now you listen to Abby." Nadia clearly had no desire to face the consequences of her actions. He quickly broke the eye contact and turned to escape out of the lab. Nadia stuck the tongue out as he turned his back but quickly drew it back when Abby tapped her nose.

"Did you take anymore diamonds Nadia?"

"Uh-uh." Nadia fiercely shook her head.

"Are you telling the truth young lady?"

Nadia hesitated and glanced up at her before she answered, "I didn't take them."

Abby was sure she was not telling her the truth. But she could sympathize with Maalik and all the good he could do with such an acquisition. It was hard to be mad at Nadia; she was just being sweet, really, wasn't she? But they were evidence and Abby let no one mess with her evidence, even if it was a cute little four year old trying to save a third world country….Right? Unable to cope with her grappling conscience Abby made a decision, "I better take you to Gibbs." She settled the girl against her hip and headed for the lift.

Nadia quickly buried her head in Abby's chest trying to hide from the frown on Abby's face. As they reached the bullpen Gibbs was sitting at his desk. Abby put her down and nudged her over to the grey-haired man.

"Gibbs, Nadia has something to tell you." Abby declared.

Nadia nervously stepped from foot to foot and threw a pleading look up to Abby who was trying hard to stay firm and ignore her puppy-eyes. _Please Nadia don't look at me like that, its evidence. _Abby turned away.

"I…. I took…. some stars from Abby and gave one to Mally." She confessed looking down on the ground. However she heard Gibbs heavy sigh. Nadia peeked under her eyelashes as Abby looked back over her shoulder, and flinched when she saw Gibbs stand up and round the table.

He knelt down in front of Nadia, "Where are the rest of the stars then?"

"I just took one." Nadia said defiantly.

Abby was nervous, and she stepped forward, "That's right Gibbs, well I don't know if she took more, but she only gave one to Mally, I mean Mr. Maalik, who gave it back, he showed me; it was on the bench, Nadia was just trying to help Gibbs. But I know its evidence and no one, I mean no one messes with evidence, but I think…"

"What do you think Abby? You brought Nadia to me, so you're telling me there is no problem?"

"No, Gibbs I think that Nadia is fibbing."

"You mean lying, Abbs, just because she's cute don't mean but she can't tell a lie."

"I'm not fib…"

Gibbs didn't let the little girl finish. He held up her head and looked her straight in the eyes. Now it was Nadia's turn to be nervous, "Stop there, miss. Now you may have wanted to do a nice thing for Mr. Maalik, but a lie is a lie. And you know a lie is wrong. You said that you took some stars, that means you took more than one. Where are the other stars?" Gibbs questioned keeping her chin in a firm grip so she had to look at him.

"I….. I just took one and gave it to Mally."

Gibbs looked up at Abby and shook his head, "I know that and Mal…Mr. Maalik did the right thing and gave it back. You have to the count of three young Lady to tell me where the stars are, One…"

Nadia shook her head and pursed her lips.

"Twooo," Gibbs dragged out in a warning tone.

Nadia shifted from one foot to the other.

"Three!" He snapped.

Nadia jumped and grabbed at the bulge in her top pocket; protecting her booty.

Gibbs had to smirk. The kid was sure stubborn, but she so easily gave herself away. He pulled her hand away from the cylindrical bulge in her pocket, reached out and tried to remove the box.

"Nononono! That's mine! Don't touch!" She slapped his hands and turned to run. He quickly grabbed her by the back of her pajama pants and dragged her between his knees where he held her close. He captured her hands in one of his then retrieved the small box from her pocket.

"What's this then?" He asked as he opened the box and tipped it upside down. Six diamonds fell on the table and Nadia started to cry.

"I…. Abby said…. we protect them together from bad men. She didn't say I can't have em back." She sniveled.

Sighing Gibbs picked the girl up and sat her down on his lap. Immediately she tried to snuggle closer to him, but he kept her at distance which only caused her to cry harder. However he knew most of the tears were shed because she had gotten caught and wasn't going to be able to keep her stars. But most of all, she knew she was in trouble.

Gibbs patiently waited until she had calmed down, then he put two fingers under her chin and tilted her head up once again.

"Nadia, you know that stealing is wrong, very wrong and you lied to me too, which was also very naughty. You know you're always supposed to tell the truth and you never take things which don't belong to you."

"But…They are mine, daddy gave em to me." Nadia sniffed and rubbed her eyes.

"That's true Gibbs, her daddy did give them to her and I didn't say she wasn't allowed to take them."

"Abby! They are evidence! Now unless you want…"

"A smack up the back of my head, Okay I know, I know."

"Abby it won't be a smack up the back of your head. It will be a CAF-Pow-ban for two weeks."

"That's the second time you've threatened me, Gibbs." Grimaced Abby.

"Abbs, you don't want to make it three, so while you can, take these diamonds back and make sure they are all there."

"Oh they'll be all there. I counted 110 in all or was that 109 or 111? Don't worry, no because I wrote it down, Gibbs, Oh Wise One, Oh Grand Special Agent Gibbsssss…"

"And Huggaroo!" added Nadia, smiling up at the Goth, then back at Gibbs, trying to break that scowl.

It didn't work.

Gibbs put Nadia down and stood up. Before the echo in his clicking knee had faded, Abby had grabbed the box and was off, in the lift hitting the button for the lab.

Nadia decided to take the distraction and head off in the opposite direction. But the Old Hugaroo wasn't a Wise Special Agent Gibbs for nothing. He had never let go of Nadia's pajama top. One soft yank and the child was back in his grasp.

"Not so fast. You and I have a little matter of lying to discuss." With that he picked Nadia up by her waist and carried her towards the conference room.

"No, No, No, I don't wanna talk bout it." Nadia wriggled and kicked her legs, trying to break free.

Gibbs ignored her fruitless protests and closed the door behind him. He walked over to the sofa, before putting the child down. He sat opposite her on the coffee table, holding her in a sitting position in front of him.

Tears started to well up in Nadia's eyes and she pouted.

"You can stop the pout little lady, it's not going to work." _maybe. _"Nadia do you know what a lie is?"

"Yes, it's a fib."

"Yes, it's a fib. Are fibs wrong?"

"Huh?"

"Are you allowed to fib?"

"No."

"But you did. Abby asked you if you had any more diamonds..."

"They're stars."

"Abby asked you if you had any more stars. And you said; No. That's a fib, right?"

"No, fibs are bad."

"Nadia." He growled. "I asked you if you had anymore STARS and you fibbed to me also, and yes that was wrong."

Nadia squirmed under his gaze clearly unhappy in which direction their discussion was heading.

"What happens when you tell a fib Nadia?"

"To who?"

"Anyone, your daddy or you're mommy?"

"My old daddy or my new daddy?"

Gibbs was getting a little frustrated but at the same time, this kid had smarts, and in some way she was kind of logical. He pinched the bridge of his nose, "Either daddy."

"Well, my old daddy would spank me, but you're my new daddy, and I haven't lied to you before, so you can give me a hug?" She suggested. As she saw Gibbs frown she quickly added, "You can keep the stars."

"Is that a bribe?"

"No, what's a bribe? Is it like when ya get married, did you mean bride, like a princess. You deserve a princess daddy, cause you're a prince." She smiled, _maybe I'm getting good at this_, she wondered.

_Wow she is getting good at this_ thought Gibbs_; I've_ _got a mini Abby on my hands_. "Nadia? Did you love your daddy?"

"Old or new?"

"OLD!"

"Your both really old, and I love you both."

"Good, and did your daddy love you?"

"Yes, he told me, but he didn't have to, cause I felt it all the time. Like I feel it with you".

Gibbs was taken back a little. He did love Nadia; he hadn't said it, because he didn't want to give her hope, about coming to live with him permanently. He had a legal checking out things, but it was still uncertain. However, he was secretly happy that she felt loved.

"Yes, Nadia you feel right, I do love you. And I want you to grow up to be a good person. So lying is out. I also want you to be safe. Some bad men are still after these diamonds and if they knew you had some they might try to take you away. I don't want that to happen. Do you understand?"

"Gibbs you love me!" She shouted and jumped into his arms completely ignoring his admonishment.

"Yep!" He kissed her head, then sat her back on the sofa in front of him. "Yep just like you're old daddy."

The beam on Nadia's face was short lived, when she suddenly found herself laying across Gibbs knees a smack applied to her pajama clad bottom.

"Owww, no more!" cried Nadia as she threw her hand back to cover her backside, all the time kicking her little legs as fast as possible.

Gibbs grabbed her small hand and moved it out of the way. Then he pulled her pajama pants down to the top of her thighs and applied another three swats to her bare backside.

"Ow, ow, owww!"

Gibbs replaced her pajama and stood her up.

Nadia bounced on the balls of her feet, rubbing her stinging backside with one hand and trying to rub the tears away with the other.

Gibbs picked her up and swapped positions to sit on the sofa to cuddle the little girl. "No more lying or taking evidence, okay?"

Nadia leant back into his chest, and nodded, "Mkay." she sniffed. "I won't take them again."

Gibbs sat there; rubbing slow circles on Nadia's back, letting her cry out. Before long the tears had stopped and Gibbs felt a large yawn smothered in his chest. He continued to rub and softly kissed the top of her head again, taking in the odor of baby shampoo and the delightful vibrations of a sleeping small child. God he had missed that.

_**Meanwhile…**_.

A pale man was sitting on a bench in front of the NCIS building. On the front page of the newspaper he was reading was a large picture of his face. He pulled his hat slightly down to shade his face and checked if his sunglasses still were in place. He had made all the preparations he needed. He felt the weight of the hidden vest on his shoulders and tried not to think about what it contained. He just needed to finish this job then everything would be fine.

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**Please review, I want to make my first hundred and the more of you review the faster I get there, so please drop me a line. THANKS!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Parking lots**

Gibbs gently kissed Nadia on the top of the head, before he went to put her down on the sofa. But as he withdrew his arms around her she whimpered and gripped him tighter.

"No, daddy don't go." She murmured and tucked her face into his chest.

"I'm right here Sweetheart." Gibbs cooed and picked her up. She kept on clinging to him, but slowly relaxed as he continued to rock her and rub her back. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to put her down any time soon, he sat down on the sofa again. Nadia's arms fell down as she drifted deeper into the land of dreams. Once Gibbs was sure that she was fast asleep, he carefully put her down on the sofa and tucked her in with the blanket.

"Sleep tight." He whispered fondly and stroked her cheek.

Nadia murmured something and turned around so she was lying on her stomach. Quietly Gibbs went out of the room and closed the door as softly as possible. He really needed coffee.

Maalik, who was holding two large cups of coffee in his hands, rounded the building and entered the security scans. As the elevators pinged and open, he nearly collected Gibbs on his way out. "Here!" He said and handed Gibbs one of the cups. "I think you could use it."

"Thank you."

"Gibbs, can I go back to hospital now? That's if you don't have any more questions of course." Maalik asked and twisted the cup of coffee in his hands.

Gibbs shook his head. He had everything he wanted from Maalik. The doctor clearly had nothing to do with the case. He should take a rest, because tomorrow their central would be flooded with calls of people who claimed to have seen the murderer. That, however was better than nothing.

"You can go, but call us if you think of anything else, see anything or believe you're in danger, though I don't think you're in danger. The murderer is after members of the CNDP and you're on their death list. I doubt he wants to do them a favor."

Maalik chuckled. "Yeah, I think so too. I…." He nervously shuffled his feet. "Can I come and visit Nadia sometime. I knew her parents and …." He stopped and scratched himself on the head.

"Of course you can. We'll come and see you at the hospital after the case is finished. I'd like you to organize a complete medical for her. I want to know everything about her allergies"

"Very well, I'll organize that. Once again, thank you Agent Gibbs." Then the Afro-American turned around and headed to the lift, leaving Gibbs alone in the bullpen.

**Parking lot NCIS headquarters**

Curzio checked the vest again. If he fell everything would explode and he would be spread across half of the city. But it was necessary, if they caught him they would trace everything back to his boss and he couldn't allow that. He checked the activator one last time assuring himself that everything was fine. It was formed like a small mobile phone with an antenna. The antenna was actually the lock. If he dragged it out he had to keep the number 5 pressed or the bomb would explode.

Just as he finished the checking, he saw the doctor come out of the NCIS building. Maybe he knew something about the girl and where he could find her? He got to his feet and headed slowly over to his black car.

Maalik was hurrying. He was late and he was sure the head physician at the Hospital would want a good explanation why NCIS had picked him up. But Maalik would leave all that to Gibbs. He didn't want to reveal more than necessary of his past and he was sure Gibbs would do fine in explaining everything to him.

He unlocked his car and got in. With a roar the motor came alive and he drove out on the streets, not recognizing the black car that was following him.

**In the hospital**

Tony sat on the side of Ziva's bed and watched her face. She had gotten some of her color back, but she was still a bit pale. The doctor had just taken away the last empty bag of hemoglobin. Now she was only getting blood plasma and fluids. She was also wearing a neck brace supporting her head and allowing her muscles to rest.

He threw a quick glance at his watch and decided that he should head back to NCIS headquarters. He had already stayed too long, but he had been worried and wanted to make sure that Ziva had everything she needed. Slowly he got to his feet and looked around looking for a reason to stay a little longer. Just then the nurse Claire entered the room carrying a tray with a plate full of steaming soup. Tony's stomach grumbled and he remembered that he hadn't eaten since dinner yesterday and that had been only three slices of pizza.

"You're hungry too." The nurse grinned and sat down the tray on a table next to Ziva's bed. "I remember you. You're DiNozzo. You were the one who caught that little fledgling, Nadia as she was fleeing from the older officer, Gibbs, right?"

"Yup, that was me and you must be Claire then." He said giving her one of his best smiles.

She nodded. "If you go to the parking garage and leave through the main exit you'll find a wonderful pizzeria to the left."

"Uh-what?"

"You said you were hungry, didn't you. And you look like you love pizza." She hinted and pointed towards a stain of tomato sauce on his shirt. Tony followed the direction of her pointed finger, saw the stain and then blushed.

Tony tried to rub the stain off with his wet finger, "Opps, I hadn't had time to change last night. Ziva had gotten shot."

Tony finally stopped his fruitless efforts to remove the stain. "Oh well," Nodding towards his sleeping partner, "Tell her that I'll visit her again later."

"I'll do that."

Tony nodded, thanked her and then turned to go out of the room.

**Parking Garage from the hospital**

Curzio had gotten ahead of Maalik as soon as he realized that the doctor was heading back to the hospital. He parked the car on the third floor, not far from the main entrance to the hospital. He got out of the car and quickly started to change his clothes. Soon he was looking like a male nurse. He unloaded a fold away trolley and put two containers of oxygen on it. Complete with props, he would look like any male nurse, who had been sent to get some more oxygen from the depot. Finally he put the activator in his pocket and checked to make sure the vest was well hidden.

With a shudder, Curzio thought of what he had strapped to him. The explosive had been recently detected by two German medicines, who had been looking for a new medicine. They had made experiments with the explosive Nitropenta, a plastic explosive. It was also used against the contraction of the coronary vessels. They had removed a carbonate atom and replaced it with a silicium atom. He grinned. Silicium is an alkali metal a highly reactive substance, it had been pretty clear that the outcome would be explosive. However the problem was that the substance was extremely unstable. To stabilize it he had mixed it with Nitroglycerin. The gas tanks would only reinforce the explosion and make sure that there was nothing left of him, but he hoped that it wouldn't be necessary to take such dramatic steps. However it would also protect him. No one would want to shoot at a bomb. He shook his head and looked around. Soon his intended target drove into the garage and parked his car not far away from him.

Maalik got out of his car and looked around. A tall, but somewhat chubby male nurse was walking towards him dragging two oxygen tanks behind him. He turned around and headed towards the entrance. The steps behind him quickened and he looked back. The chubby man seemed to have problems with the gas tanks. Maalik stopped and waited for the male nurse. As the man reached him, Maalik frowned. He wasn't chubby he was just wearing thick clothes. Just as he went to offer him his help he heard the characteristic clicking noise of the releasing of a gun.

Maalik stared down and saw the man was holding a gun pointed against Maalik's chest. In his other hand he held something like a mobile phone on which he was firmly pressing a button.

"Go in there!" The man ordered pointing towards the fire exit. Maalik recognized an heavy Italian accent. He obeyed the order and withdrew to the shadows of the doors.

The man leant against the wall next to the door and took a deep breath. Sweat streamed down Curzio's face as he held the gun firmly pressed against the Afro-American's chest He shouldn't have taken this risk, but it was necessary. If they found his body they would also find the bank accounts before his boss would be able to freeze them and then everything would come out.

"What do you want?" Maalik asked. He was waiting for an opportunity to strike. Even if the man was midriff was heavily padded, the Doctor surmised that he could easily break the guy's arm.

The man grinned. "You can't defeat me Maalik Kutesa and if you do, the vest I'm wearing will explode and taking you with me. All that it is keeping it from exploding is this button." He held up the activator. "If I stop pressing it without putting the lock back in…." He left the sentence unfinished. "Now tell me where I can find this girl? The witness. Where's the safe house?"

Maalik started to laugh. "Do you really think they would have told me anything? I'm a suspect. You must be really desperate. I bet your boss has found out that they've got pictures of you. Doesn't matter, the only thing I know for sure is; you're screwed and whoever you work for is screwed too."

All of a sudden a shot rang out and the man staggered to the side. A red spot appeared on the side of his throat and poured down his neck as the blood pumped out. Maalik threw a quick glance over to the entrance and spotted one of the agents holding a gun pointed against the killer. He remembered that he had met the man in the night of the shooting. His name was DiNozzo. The killer was still standing, but it was the shock which kept him alive.

"RUN! HE'S GOT A BOMB!" Maalik yelled and DiNozzo immediately turned around.

A few seconds later the activator fell to the ground.

**Outside the Hospital a few minutes earlier**

Michael rubbed his eyes. It had been one hell of a night. First a NCIS agent gets shot nearly in front of his eyes, then his friend Maalik gets stabbed by a stranger. However he didn't have to worry about the stranger anymore. He was dead and FBI agents had come and taken care of the body. Slowly he made his way to his house which was just a few blocks afar.

Just then an explosive flame shot out above his head and a loud explosion shook the ground. He dived to the ground and covered his head with his arms protecting it from any falling ruins. As the heat and the ringing sound in his ears had faded away he slowly got to his feet and looked up. Nearly the whole third floor of the parking lot had been blown away.

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**I know the title sucks, but everything important in this chapter is in a parking lot. So actually it isn't that bad. I know I'm mean to leave this chapter with such a cliffhanger, but it's just to funny to leave the chapters like this (giggle).**

**Hope you liked it and please review. Perhaps we can make it up to hundred this time you just have to drop me a little comment what you think.**

**And as usual and big, big, big, big thank to Gaben for her help and patience.**

**Ps. I know I wrote in the last Bonanza chapter that I wouldn't be able to update soon, but I had this chapter nearly finished for a long time and then my muse decided to go on strike and not help me anymore. And now she just keeps bombarding me with ideas for all my stories, so I can't keep up anymore.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16 – Stars from the Heart**

Recap: Curzio follows Maalik into the parking garage and helds him at gunpoint to get some information where Nadia is. Meanwhile Tony is getting hungry and heads of for the pizzaria nurse Claire described for him. In the garage he saw Curzio and Maalik and shot Curzio. However he had no idea that the man was carrying a bomb.

**Minutes earlier **

Maalik stared at the man who still stood upright despite a lethal gunshot wound. The large man, padded with a bomb had dropped the gun, but his fingers still clutched around the activator. The doctor spun around opened the heavy fire exit door and jumped though it using his back to slam it shut behind him. Wasting no more time trying to block the door he dived toward the stairs just as the bomb exploded.

The metal security door folded up like tinfoil, as the shockwave blew it away. Some of its flying debris hit Maalik hard in the back and sent him over the stair-rail, effectively saving him from being blown to bits. As he fell, sailing past down two levels an explosive flame filled the stairwell and billowed upward.

Before impact, Maalik tried to roll of right shoulder to reduce the injuries, but failed miserably. He wasn't able to turn in the air and landed legs first. The bones in his left leg snapped and he fell heavily onto his back. His reflexes kicked in and he rolled to the side where he lay heavily panting on the ground.

Maalik couldn't feel his left leg anymore. However, he could feel the back of his shirt getting warm and wet. He couldn't hear anything just a ringing sound. Disorientated, he raised one hand against his ear and tried to snap his fingers to check if he really was deaf or if he was just in shock. A second later he fainted.

**Present Time**

Michael just stared in disbelief up at the hospitals third floor parking lot. He suppressed the urge to run and walked quickly towards the entrance on the ground floor. Cautious of the dangers, he was still concerned someone may need his help, although he hoped no one had been up on the third floor. As he stepped into the garage he was hit by a deafening concert of car alarms. Ignoring the sounds, he headed for the door to the stairwell. Opening the door and he was met by a shocking scene. Maalik was lying motionless on the floor and the back of his shirt was soaked in blood. The young intern remembered the night before. The bleeding woman on the ground, the unconscious killer, Maalik with a knife wound. He quickly brushed the thoughts away and knelt down next to his friend looking for the pulse.

"Strong and steady!" Michael whispered relieved. "I guess I can leave you a second then." He jumped to his feet and ran back to the hospital. A few seconds later he returned with a gurney and three emergency physicians. Together they heaved Maalik up on the gurney and rolled him into the hospital.

**Same time third floor of the hospital**

With the impact Agent DiNozzo was thrown back against the wall of the corridor. A very dazed Tony was then helped to his feet by Claire, who checked him for injuries. She found no serious wounds. She raised a finger in front of his eyes with an order to the agent to follow their movements. Tony nodded absent minded. He had barely heard her.

"I'm fine." He muttered to the young nurse fussing over him. He moved her slowly out of the way and picked up his gun. "What the hell happened?" he groaned.

"I don't know. There was an explosion in the parking lot. Look, all the windows facing the garage are destroyed." she said shocked. Realizing the seriousness of the events and the threat, Claire started to tremble. She quickly sat down on the ground before; her legs became too weak to bear her weight.

Tony flipped open his mobile phone and called Gibbs.

Before he could even say hello Gibbs voice came out of speaker. _"Tony, are you alright? We just got a call from the FBI that a bomb…"_

"I'm alright boss. Yeah, I got the guy, but not before he detonated. Boss, I think I just shot our killer. He was threatening Doctor Maalik." Tony stepped out into the open corridor, taking in air to clear his thoughts and foggy vision, "I'm guessing, he wanted information about Nadia. The doc warned me that the guy had a bomb after I shot him. I turned and ran."

Claire stood up and moved in beside the agent, concerned he was going to fall. "A few seconds later the shockwave smashed the glass doors of the entrance and threw you to the ground." Added the nurse.

Tony could hear Gibb's groan, "But I'm okay, Boss. As far as I can tell, no one seems to be injured inside the hospital, but I don't know what happened to the doc. He had nowhere to go. Boss, I think he's dead."

He heard Gibbs curse.

"Uhm, Boss. Are you alright?" When Gibbs cursed, something had to be really wrong.

"_No, I'm not. Damn it, we just released the guy, and now I have to explain to Nadia that her last connection to her family is gone too. I'm coming over."_ He snapped, before hanging up.

Tony shook his head and put the phone back into his pocket. Before Gibbs arrived, he decided he should check that everyone here was alright, beginning with Claire.

**NCIS Headquarters: The bullpen**

Nadia stirred and slowly woke up. Rubbing her eyes she sat up and looked around. Gibbs was nowhere to be seen. She slid of the sofa and skipped out of the room looking for her grey-haired protector. When she came into the bullpen, she spotted him grabbing his gear and heading for the lift.

"GIBBS!" She yelled and ran over to him. Gibbs wavered when she bumped full speed into his legs immediately wrapping her arms around his thighs "Where are you going? Can I come with you?"

"I'm going to the hospital, and no, you can't come with me!" He stated, crouching down in front of her.

"Why?"

"Because, I have to work there and that would be very boring for you. Why don't I wake up Tim and ask him to do some coloring with you."

"But…." Nadia went to protest, but Gibbs put a finger against her lips.

"I'll buy you some ice-cream if you behave." He tried to bribe her. He had no time to discuss this with her. He wanted to make sure that the information Tony had given him were true, before he could discuss anything with the child. He went back to his desk and hit his intercom. "McGee you awake?"

After a brief moment, "Uh, Oh yeah Boss."

"Good get up here a take Nadia to Abby's lab. I need to get to the hospital."

"On my way Boss."

Tim arrived on the next elevator and held the doors open for Gibbs as they exchanged places. Gibbs smiled at Tim's groggy state. "Wakey, Wakey, McGee. Supervise Nadia, if she is good, she can have some Ice-cream."

Tim grimaced back at his boss, "Oh goody, I love four year olds and Ice-cream." he quipped sarcastically.

Nadia's eyes lit up and she clapped her hands as she heard the word ice-cream.

"I love ice-cream. Thankyouhuggaroo." She yelled and threw herself at him, then wrapped her arms around his neck. Gibbs patted her back and then gently removed her arms. Raising to his feet, he went to press, but stopped when he felt a tug on his trouser leg.

"You forgot to give Goodbye-hug." Nadia admonished him sternly waving a naughty finger at him.

"I just hugged you." He said amused.

"That wasn't a good-by-hug. That was a thank-you-hug."

Gibbs had to smile at her stern expression. Crouching down again he spread out his arms and the girl literally launched herself against his chest with a last kiss on her forehead he sat Nadia down and hit the button.

"Bye-bye huggaroo." She waved at him then snuggled her hand into Tim's.

Shaking his head Gibbs headed for his car. Guilt and anger were raging inside of him. _Why had he thought that Maalik would be safe? He should have been. The killer must have gotten desperate. Somehow he had found out about the photographs._

Meanwhile McGee and Nadia made their way back to the conference room. Once there, Tim lay down on the sofa again. "Just some minutes." He mumbled.

However he didn't think of Nadia and was promptly attacked by a hyperactive four year old. "TIM! TIM! TIM! GIBBS SAID YOU WANNA DRAW WITH ME!" She called patting him none to gently on the nose, hoping to arouse activity from the still sleepy agent.

"Nadia, I'm tired." McGee murmured and turned his back towards her.

Nadia huffed and climbed up at the sofa. "I wanna play Tim. Please!" She added for good measure, then sat down on him and started patting him again. McGee groaned and sat up, nearly causing Nadia to fall down from the sofa. With a surprised shriek she grabbed a handful of his hair and another handful of his shirt causing him to sit straight up.

"OW! Hey, stop that." He admonished, released the child's vice-like grip of his hair and sat her down on his lap.

"I nearly fell down from the sofa. You did that on por…. pur…. per…." Nadia's rant was immediately cut off, as the four year old didn't remember the right word. Concentrating hard she put a finger against her lips.

"I think you're looking for the word purpose." Tim said smiling.

"Yes, thank you Timmy." She exclaimed happily and hugged him. Then remembered that she was cross with him and quickly released her hug continuing her scowling at the agent.

"Come lets get some colors and draw then." Tim sat her down and got to his feet holding out his hand for Nadia. The girl frowned, but put her little hand in his and let him lead her out of the room and down to Abby's lab where Nadia could color in all day if she wanted to and probably he could get some sleep too.

**Meanwhile at the Hospital**

Tony had finally put the pieces together of what had happened. Fortunately no one had been seriously injured, just some minor cuts from flying pieces of glass. But there was one exception; he had seen Maalik rolled in on a gurney at quickly taken to surgery. Right now they were now operating on him.

Tony checked his cell for messages. The FBI had cornered off the parking lot as he gave their agents his statement with a promise to speak to them again. For now though, all he could do was waiting until the operation was over.

Just as he went to take a seat in the waiting room he heard the doors of the elevator open. Automatically, he turned his head and looked in the direction of the noise.

As the lifts doors opened, Gibbs and Tony eyes met.

Tony stood and Gibbs strode quickly towards the waiting room. "He's alive, Boss. They brought him in on a gurney about twenty minutes ago. They're operating on him now. I have no idea how he survived the explosion, I saw him standing right in front of the man."

"Do you think the killer blew himself up?"

"I don't think so. The bomb exploded after I shot him."

"What were you doing there?"

"I wanted to get a pizza. Claire told me of a great little Pizzeria around the corner. When I came into the parking garage…. I saw the gun and recognized the face. It was Curzio. He was threatening Maalik, had a gun on him. I simply reacted. I didn't know that he was carrying a bomb."

"You did a good job DiNozzo." Gibbs said, realizing that Tony was blaming himself for Maalik's injuries. "If you hadn't stepped in, Maalik would be dead by now."

"But…."

"You couldn't have known he was carrying a bomb as a jacket, DiNozzo," Interrupted Gibbs. "I was the one who told him that he was safe. I didn't think that the killer would get that desperate." He muttered. He turned and started to walk down the corridor. "Damn, I need a coffee."

"I could do with one too." Tony said and followed his Boss down to the cafeteria. They had no other choice than to wait until the operation was finished.

While they were sitting at the table, each of them holding a large cup of coffee, they mused in silence over the entire details of the case. They hadn't been able to track down the killer. He had always been a step ahead of them. Tony only had managed to kill him because he wanted a pizza; if he had come into the parking garage only minutes later the killer would have murdered Maalik and disappeared again. He would still be out there and a threat to Nadia's life.

Gibbs had called Fornell and given him Tony's details. The remains of the bomber, or what little was left of him, were now on their way to NCIS headquarters where Ducky would fill in the many more unanswered questions.

Half an hour later an exhausted looking internist slumped down in a chair opposite them and ordered a cup of tea. Gibbs and Tony got their feet at the same time and rushed over to the man.

"Do you know if the operation of doctor Maalik is over?" Gibbs inquired.

"Why do you ask?" He countered warily.

Gibbs flashed his badge. "NCIS." He announced.

"Is the operation finished?" Tony demanded, also showing the man his badge.

The man nodded his head. "I've just stitched him up now. We managed to remove all the splinters and shrapnel. He's going to be fine again except for some scars on his back."

"Which room is he in?"

"He is in recovery at the moment, then spend the night in critical care just to be on the safe side. We had him under for a while, he's a pretty big fella, they will want to monitor him carefully. They will probably transfer him to ward as soon as he comes through the anesthetic pr first thing in the morning. They have him booked into a security room, in the west wing, room 19."

Relieved, Gibbs flipped up his mobile phone and sent McGee a text message with an order to organize some security. Then he could bring Nadia to the hospital. Her friendly giant was on the mend.

Several hours later an excited four year old and her puppy were running into the hospital as fast as their short legs could carry them. A tall Goth, in a pair of built up studded boots, was hurrying after them, barely able to keep up with them, let alone to catch up.

"Gibbs! GIBBS! GIIIIBS! Where's Mally?" Nadia yelled, looking around for her grey-haired guardian.

"Nadia, wait for me! Goliath isn't allowed in here. I can't run…. damn heels." Abby muttered and took off her boots. She was able to catch up to the girl and the pup who were running into the pediatric wing. Quickly she grabbed Nadia's hand and held her back. "Wrong direction, Nadia. Gibbs said he's in the critical care, then he's going to a Security Wing. Not in the pediatric Wing and we have to go to the other direction and we have to keep Goliath outside. He isn't allowed in here."

"But… but… but Mally wants to see him." Nadia protested.

"No, Nadia. We have to leave him outside." Abby said taking Goliath's leash in one and Nadia's hand in the other hand. "Come now."

Pouting the child followed Abby out of the hospital again where the Goth tied Goliath to a street lamp. The puppy tilted his head eyeing her actions suspiciously.

"We'll be right back Goliath." Abby assured him, then turned around leading Nadia into the hospital again, leaving a whimpering Goliath behind them. As they went through the doors the pup started to howl heartbroken. The sound pulled at Abby's heart, but she forced herself to continue. Nadia wanted to see Mally…. Hrm Maalik and she could look after the pup as soon as the little girl had been safely delivered to Gibbs.

A few minutes later they arrived at the double doors to the critical care unit. Abby hesitated. Nadia on the other hand didn't. Just as she went to open the door Gibbs came out.

"Gibbs!" Nadia cheered and launched herself against his legs wrapping her arms tightly around them.

"Hi little one." Gibbs greeted her absent-minded ruffling her hair with one hand.

"Was it close?" Abby signed.

Gibbs nodded and signed back, "One of the shrapnel punctured a lung, but they removed it. He's fine; they are just monitoring him here for the next three hours."

Tugging on his shirt Nadia demanded his attention. "Can I see Mally, now?"

"Yes, but be gentle with him. He's still very tired and he's got a few wires on him still."

"Okay." The four year old replied not really listening to him and ran past Gibbs only to be unceremoniously hauled back by her clothes.

"Nadia, I mean it. Children aren't usually allowed in here, but Mally is the only one in this ward, but you still have to be gentle and quiet" He warned.

"Yes, huggaroo." Then she walked slowly in. Tony was also inside sipping on a coffee. Maalik was lying asleep propped up with a tube connected to his arm.

Nadia tiptoed over to him carefully to be as quiet as possible. Reaching up she grabbed two of his fingers and looked at him seriously. "Mally? Are you awake?" She asked tugging lightly on his hand.

"I am." Came the low reply, and then added "Now."

"Gibbs said to Abby that you were hurt. Is that true? Cause ifin it is you have to get well soon, so you can come and play with me at the playground."

Maalik chuckled and stroked her cheek. "I'll see what I can do, Nadia."

"Okay. Can I hug you?"

"Yes, but owch… be careful." He hissed as the girl eagerly climbed up on his bed and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a wet kiss on his nose. All of sudden they heard a bark and Nadia look up.

"Goliath, what are you doing here?" Nadia heard Abby scold the pup. A second later there was a scratching noise on the door. "No, you aren't allowed in there. Come! This time I'll make a good knot one you can't get open with just dragging on hit." She muttered. Goliath whimpered as his four paws lost contact to the ground, when he was picked up by an angry forensic scientist, who turned to walk away.

"It's alright Abby I'll take him. Go in and look after Maalik." Gibbs stepped in taking the unhappy Goliath out of Abby's arms. As Abby opened the doors Gibbs took the opportunity to call Nadia and Tony out of the room. "Come on, let's get some food. We can come back after something to eat."

"Coming boss." Heading over to the bed he picked up Nadia and sat her down on his shoulders. Together they headed down to the cafeteria, leaving Abby alone with Maalik.

Abby moved close the big man, smiling. "Uhm… I brought you a present, doctor Maalik." She said nervously. Reaching into her purse she took out a stuffed hippo. "His name is Bert two, because I already have Bert... uhm he's number one. I hope you like the collar I made for him." She handed him the toy and quickly turned to go as she heard a farting noise as Maalik squeezed the toy.

"Thanks, Abby." He chuckled and then eyed the collar. It was made out of leather and a large gilded heart was dangling on it. "And yes, I really do like the collar."

"I better let you sleep. Oh by the way the locket. It's something to remember us by, well Nadia really. Good luck with your Hospital." Abby said and hurried out of the room.

Bewildered about her behaviour Maalik looked at the stuffed toy left in his arm. He surveyed the large shiny locket and then opened the heart. A paper-ball fell out revealing two pictures on either side of the locket; one of Nadia with her parents and another one with a surprised looking Gibbs holding a sleeping Nadia in his arms.

Maalik put the toy down and took the paper-ball in his hand. It was heavier than he thought. Unwrapping the paper he revealed a large colourless crystal and a letter which seemed to be written in a rush.

_Dear Mally or Maalik_

_I hope you can do the good things with this, just like you told me. I also hope that you liked the pictures I put into the heart, Nadia's old and new parent. Recently McGee has found out where Nadia's grandparents are. They're dead, but I know Gibbs will take good care of her. Don't worry about the diamond; it was one of the ones that never got logged from Nadia's precious Pocket full of Stars. Long story._

_Love from Abby and Nadia_

_Ps. If you tell Gibbs that I gave you a diamond and didn't log all evidence, he'll kill me. So please don't._

"Thank you Abigail. Now I can finally build my hospital." He whispered and wrapped the diamond back into the letter. Stuffing it safely into the gilded heart he placed the hippo on the cushion next to his head and counted his blessings before drifting back to sleep. "Bless you little Nadia. A Star from the heart. Do good; that it will."

**The End.**

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**I think you can all imagine what will happen next, so I don't think I need to write an epilogue. Hope you enjoyed the story.**

**A big shoutout to Gaben for her continued help and support. Without her this story wouldn't turned out half so good as it is now.**

**Sorry that it took me so long to update, but real life is getting in the way.**

**Don't forget to review!**


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